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THE WAR AND AMERICA 
War Citizenship Lessons 



IT IS NOT AN ARMY THAT WE MUST 
SHAPE AND TRAIN; IT IS A NATION 

President Wilson's 

Selective Service Act Proclamation, 

May 1 8, 191 7. 




PRESIDENT WILSON 



THE 

WAR AND AMERICA 

WAR CITIZENSHIP LESSONS 



BY 
ROSCOE LEWIS ASHLEY 

AUTHOR OF 

"THE AMERICAN FEDERAL STATE" 

''MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION" 

' ' AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ' ' 

ETC. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1918 

All rights reserved 



-^fo 









Copyright 

X9X7-18, THE PASADENA HIGH SCHOOL 

1918, THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



J. S. Gushing Co. —Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



NOV 21 1918 
(S)CI.A506673 



CONTENTS 



I. GENERAL 

1. How Germany Sought to Dominate the World 

Formation of the Triple Alliance . 
Expansion — The Bagdad Railway- 
Imperialist Plans and a Place in the Sun 
Menace of German Ideas and " Welt-politik" 

2. How Europe Was Aroused against Germany 

Formation of the Dual Alliance 
England and France Reach an Understanding 
The Algeciras Conference and the Triple Entente 
Balkan Crises Leading to War 



3. How THE War Came to America 

How All Europe Became Embroiled in War 

Efforts of America to Remain Neutral . 

Events Leading Directly to War . 

Direct, Fundamental, and Immediate Causes of War 

"Frightfulness" and Atrocities as Causes of War 

Preparation for Entering the War . 

Why We Are at War — A Summary 

4. The Defeat of Germany — The General Problem 

Comprehension 

Loyalty 

Co6peration 

Economy and Efficiency .... 

How We Must Defeat Germany. A Summary 



PAGE 

I 
I 
2 

4 
4 
8 
8 

9 
II 
12 

15 
15 
17 
19 
20 
21 
23 
24 
28 
28 
31 
33 
35 
37 



II. FINANCE, FOOD, AND CLOTHING 

5. Helping Uncle Sam Finance the War . . . .40 

The Cost of the War 40 

War Taxation 43 

Loans and Thrift Stamps 44 

V 



Vi CONTENTS 

PAGE 

6. The Clothing Problem and the War .... 49 

Elements of the Food and Clothing Problems . . 49 

The Shortage of Cotton and Wool 51 

Conservation Program for High School Students . . 54 

7. The Food Problem 57 

General 57 

The World's Food Shortage 58 

The Problem of Increased Production .... 60 

The Problem of Food Saving .62 

The Schools and Food Production 65 

The High School and the Food Conservation Problem . 66 

III. REORGANIZATION 

8. Uncle Sam's Fighting Forces . . . . . .70 

Raising an Army . 70 

The Army Cantonment ....... 72 

Aviation and Naval Services — Officers . . . -74 

9. War Reorganization of the Government ... 79 

New Bureaus and Boards — Work Accomplished . . 79 
New Concentration and Proposed Unification . .81 
Some Auxiliary War Organizations .... 83 
The Shipping Problem ....... 86 

10. Reorganization of School Work . . . . .90 

The General Problem . . . . . . .90 

' General Preparation 92 

Conclusion .......... 96 

Appendix I 

Using worn materials ,101 

Appendix II 

Draft classes . . . • 102 



SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS 

For our schools the present crisis brings new opportunities and 
added responsibilities. Few of our high school students are old 
enough to fight for Uncle Sam at the front ; but if all understand 
the need, very few indeed will shirk any patriotic duty, however 
small, that arises. The first year of the war brought to our schools 
a new earnestness, a greater loyalty, a more complete consecration 
than we had ever known. Many of our failures have been due to 
ignorance and inexperience, but we are learning. That we may 
learn faster, that we may learn better, that we help more, is our 
first need and our greatest desire. 

The primary purpose of these patriotic lessons is not informa- 
tion but action. Since the schools are preeminently that branch 
of our social organization which works through information to 
knowledge, and through knowledge to character and potential 
efficiency, it is necessary that the lessons consider causes briefly 
and that they inquire a little into the nature of the problems to be 
considered. It is hoped that they may give some insight into war 
needs and help to develop a "war conscience" that is sensitive to 
personal obligations. Their appeal is to the individual, to know 
the right way, and to avoid little blunders, of which we are usually 
unconscious, which indirectly help the enemy. They aim to show 
also that patriotism is more than a matter of individual compre- 
hension; that it calls for cooperation of small groups such as 
classes and of large groups such as schools. 

The topics of these War Citizenship Lessons include some of 
those used originally by the writer in his own classes. When the 
complete list was shown to Mr. Walter C. Wilson, Principal of 
the Pasadena High School, he suggested that they be prepared in 
written form and presented to other students. At the request 
of Mr. Will C. Wood, Commissioner of Secondary Education, the 
lessons of this booklet, and one or two others, were then published 

vii 



viii SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS 

by the California State Board of Education for the higher schools 
of that state. For use in this edition they have been revised 
carefully and in part rewritten to meet present needs. The writer's 
thanks are due to many for interest and suggestions, and especially 
to Miss Grace Fisher of the Pasadena High School, who wrote part 
of Lesson 6 and gave suggestions on Lesson 7. 

The Lessons can be used by all students of high schools and 
upper grammar grades (intermediate or junior high schools). The 
greater the student's background of historical and scientific knowl- 
edge, the more valuable they can be made. For one who is com- 
pleting or intends to take a course in the social sciences, they sup- 
plement admirably a study of the past, and of general conditions 
of the present, because current history should be closely correlated 
with such a course. Current history may be just as necessary to 
any other student, but it means more to one who has the greater 
knowledge from which to interpret to better advantage both present 
changes and present problems. 

Presentation to all students would necessarily require a method 
different from that of an ordinary recitation. If all students have 
access to a copy of the pamphlet, they should be asked to read the 
material carefully, and to answer some questions, most of which 
are probably not designated in advance, but they should spend 
most of the time discussing topics that are live and interesting 
because touching their own lives. On the contrary, if the Lessons 
form part of a course in civics, history, or English, each pupil 
would naturally have a copy of his own and would treat that copy 
as a text to be used as much as any other text. Certainly the 
main object of patriotic instruction ought not to be information, 
or even comprehension, but inspiration. 

Pasadena, Cal. 
September, 19 18. 



THE WAR AND AMERICA 

I. GENERAL 

1. HOW GERMANY SOUGHT TO DOMINATE THE WORLD 

The modem German Empire is less than fifty years old. For a 
thousand years before the present empire was organized the name 
Germany was applied to all central Europe from the North and 
Baltic seas to the Adriatic Sea. By a series of wars, beginning in 
1864 and ending in 1871, Bismarck, the Imperial Chancellor, through 
a policy of "blood and iron,^^ welded together old Germany, with the 
exception of Austria, into a new Germany, of which the king of Prussia 
was head, with the title of German emperor or kaiser. 

Formation of the Triple Alliance 

Bismarck directed the affairs of Germany for nearly twenty years 
after her imification was completed. During that time he sought 
to work out a large nimiber of internal problems and really unite 
the German people. The chief aim of his foreign policies im- 
mediately after 1871 was the isolation of France. Another policy, 
which becamxC more and more important as the years passed, was 
the bringing together of Germany and friendly neighboring countries 
into an alliance. Such an alliance would protect Germany against 
her enemies, and it would aid her in carrying out the dominating idea 
of Bismarck's policy, namely, that Germany should be supreme in 
Etu-ope. At first he brought together the rulers of Germany, 
Austria, and Russia, who formed an unofficial group known as the 
"League of the Three Emperors.^' 

Before many years had passed, however, Bismarck discovered 
that Austria would not work with Russia, because each wanted to 



2 . THE WAR AND AMERICA 

control the Balkan area in her own interests. In 1879, therefore, 
Bismarck made an alliance with Austria which united these two 
German nations. Three years later he persuaded Italy to join 
Germany and Austria in a Triple Alliance, which continued in 
existence until the opening of the Great War. By this alliance 
each country promised to come to the help of the others if war 
was made upon the latter. If a member of the alliance how- 
ever, began the war, then the other members were not under obli- 
gation to support her. As Italy believed Germany to be the 
aggressor in the present Great War, she refused to remain in the 
alliance after the war broke out. 

Expansion — The Bagdad Railway 

Bismarck was absorbed in making Germany the greatest power in 
Europe. Even in the Balkan question in southeastern Europe he 
was not greatly interested, as is shown in his statement that it was 
not worth the bones of a Pomeranian grenadier. The interest of 
the alliance in that day in the Balkans was therefore almost ex- 
clusively for the purpose of protecting Austria and her interests 
against Russian influence in the Near East. After Bismarck 
retired from office (1890), however, and the present kaiser, Wilhelm 
II, who believes thoroughly in his divine right to rule, began to 
manage German affairs, Germany took a far greater interest than 
before in colonies, in the expansion of foreign commerce, in a navy ^ 
to protect her commerce, and in acquiring world dominion. Pan- 
Germanism, originally intended to be a union of all German peoples 
in central Europe, became a scheme for control of both continents. 

Even in Bismarck's time colonies were acquired in different parts of 
Africa. Later, Germany obtained some islands in the Pacific 
Ocean and a sphere of influence in China. Her plans for expansion 
depended less upon colonies than upon control of the world's com- 
merce. The development of Germany economically began with the 
creation of the German Empire in 187 1. It included the establish- 
ment of a great banking system which extended credit to German 
manufacturers and raerchants within the empire and in rnany 

' v ;: ; 1 ■: 1 See page 10. ^- 



GERMAN PLANS OF WORLD DOMINION 3 

foreign countries. It depended even more on the development 
of huge shaps and factories which were carefully fostered by the 
state. As a rule these were equipped with fine machinery and 
manned by skilled workers trained in. municipal and state technical 
schools. It was fostered directly by the rapid development of 
German trade throughout the Old World and New. This develop- 
ment of foreign business was not accidental and haphazard; it 
was part of a huge scheme to gain control of the markets of the 
world. Cheap and inferior goods were able to undersell better 
products of their rivals. German goods were often sold cheaper 
than British or American goods of the same quality, because Ger- 
man ba,nks and the German navy and in fact the whole scheme of 
German politics were used to give her merchants the advantage of 
her rivals. If German merchants could not compete on equal 
terms, the government offered direct help which enabled them to 
outbid and undersell their competitors. In these ways, by "peace- 
ful penetration," Germany was securing a commercial grip on the 
world and also paving the way for world domination, which was 
to be political as well as economic. 

[ The area over which Germany sought first to establish her rule 
or her influence stretched across Europe and part of Asia from the 
North Sea to the Persian Gulf. Diu-ing the last years of the nine- 
teenth century, and particularly during the first years of the twen- 
tieth, she sought to erect and control a huge and important railroad 
system from the coast of Asia Minor opposite Constantinople across 
Asia Minor and Mesopotamia to Bagdad, near the site of ancient 
Babylon. This we know as the "Berlin to Bagdad" railway. 
Great Britain, however, first prevented her getting a seaport on 
the Persian Gulf, and secondly, in an agreement with Russia (by 
which the Triple Entente was completed in 1907 1), gained for Eng- 
land and Russia control in Persia. In these ways the railroad to 
Bagdad was robbed of the opportunity to increase German com- 
merce to the Indian ocean and, temporarily at least, lost all the 
influence which Germany had hoped it would have in creating a 
world empire. 



* See page 12. 



4 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

Imperialist Plans and a Place in the Sun 

• Germany not only wished to extend her dominion southeast to the 
Persian Gulf in order to control a strip completely across Europe and 
Asia which would threaten British possessions in Egypt and India, 
but she also wanted control of harbors opposite England, from which 
she could strike that country, and by which also the commerce 
of western Germany would find a more direct outlet to the outside 
world. As the Rhine is the greatest river of western Germany, 
she naturally would desire control of the mouth of the Rhine, which 
is in Holland. As Antwerp in Belgium, however, is a better port for 
foreign commerce, the Germans planned to seize Antwerp and occupy 
as much of Belgium as was necessary to carry out their scheme 
of world dominion. If these countries resisted and she were forced 
to conquer them, not only would Germany be content with the 
European countries and their ports, but she would be glad to gain 
the valuable Dutch colonies in the East Indies and in the West 
Indian islands or in South America near our Panama canal. The 
Belgian Congo, which connects former German colonies in East 
and West Africa, would also have been acceptable to her, because 
then Germany would have had a strip clear across Africa as well as 
one across Europe and Asia. As most of the territory of the world 
which is desirable for European colonization was occupied by other 
Europeans at the time Germany began to acquire colonies, she has 
felt that she was justified in seizing old colonies of other countries, 
if possible, in order to have her '^ place in the sun.'' Unfortunately 
for us, German plans for world dominion included the New World 
as well as the Old. Early in the year 191 7, while we desired the 
friendship of Germany, and, at considerable sacrifice had re- 
mained neutral, the German foreign minister, Zimmermann, tried 
to plot with Mexico and Japan against the United States. 

Menace of German Ideas and "Welt-politik" 

We Americans did not know very much about Germany's plan 
for world domination, at least until 191 7, nor do we know very 
much yet about many German ideas. We understand, of course, 
that Germany is an autocracy ruled by landed aristocrats called 



GERMAN PLANS OF WORLD DOMINION 5 

the junkers. We know that in past centujies Prussia and at the 
present time the German Empire beHeve thoroughly in mihtarism 
as the best means for protecting themselves and carrying out their 
plans. The Germans have a saying that, in their dealing with 
one another, nations must be either hammer or anvil. They be- 
lieved that most of the time before 1871 they had played anvil to 
their neighbors' hammers. Since they have become organized, 
and especially since they have been developing a plan of world 
dominion, they have been determined that they should serve as a 
hammer to strike heavy blows on the anvils of others. 

Besides militarism, many German ideas and institutions belong 
to the centuries earlier than the nineteenth. Indeed, the attitude of 
the state toward the individual German reminds us strongly of the 
Middle Ages. Even at the present time, the undemocratic or- 
ganization of the German government is shown by the fact that the 
popularly elected branch of the imperial parliament, the "Reichs- 
tag," has practically no power in governing Germany, for the con- 
trol of affairs is left with the upper house of the parliament, 
the "Bundesrath," made up of German princes or their representa- 
tives. Cooperating with these German princes are the kaiser and 
his councilors, the chief of whom is the chancellor, an official re- 
sponsible only to the kaiser, not to the parliament. We would 
naturally have little sympathy with such a Germany, ruled by a 
war party which believes that whatever the state does is right, in 
short, that might makes right. 

We are just as strongly opposed to the idea that the majority of 
the German people seem to have accepted, at least since the war 
broke out, namely, that they have the best civilization in the world, 
that they are far more intellectual and efficient than any other 
people, and that they have a mission to perform, by war if necessary, 
in forcing their civilization upon others and bringing others under 
German control and domination. Just as the United States, in deal- 
ing with the Indians, and Great Britain, in her relations with 
inferior races of the tropics, have felt that they had an obligation 
to civilize those peoples and rule them for their own good, an obli- 
gation which we call "The White Man's Burden," so Germany has 
the same feeling toward all white men who are so ignorant and so 



6 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

obstinate that they have not accepted and possibly do not desire 
to accept the blessings of German civilization, which is called 
"kuUur.^* The patriotic German has raised his glass in toast to 
"der Tag," the day when German kultur will be universal and Ger- 
many will be triumphant over all her foes, as expressed in that 
well-known phrase, '' Deutschland ilber Alles.'^ A world in arms 
against Germany shows the reception of her plans by those white 
peoples that she wanted to control. 

REFERENCES 

Hazen, Modern European History, 341-383, 416-427. 

Ashley, Modern European Civilization, Chapters XII, XIV, XXI. 

Hayes, Political and Social History of Modern Europe, II, 180-206, 

397-435, 679-697. 
Allen, The Great War, 60-106, 160-168. 
Gibbons, The New Map of Europe, 1-70. 
Coolidge, Origins of the Triple Alliance. 
Howe, Socialized Germany, 36-94, 321-335. 
Barker, Modern Germany; Her Political and Economic Conditions ^ 

1-197, 270-383. 
Seymour, The Diplomatic Background of the War, i-37, 61-114, 194- 

206. 
Von Bulow, Imperial Germany. 
Gerard, My Four Years in Germany, 
Naumann, Central Europe. 

Hauser, Germany's Commercial Grip on the World. 
Usher, Pan-Germanism. 

Ch6radame, The Pan-German Plot Unmasked. 
Fife, The German Empire between Two Wars. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How was the term Germany used before 1866? What two 
countries first joined in the alliance which was afterward known as the 
Triple Alliance ? Which was the third country and why did it fail to 
remain in the alliance after 1914? 

2. When did Germany begin to take an active interest in Pan- 
Germanism and world politics? Explain what part was played in 
these schemes : (a) by colonies, (b) by the industrial development of 



GERMAN PLANS OF WORLD DOMINION 7 

Germany, (c) by the expansion of foreign commerce, (d) by a navy, 
and (e) by political influence in foreign countries. 

3. Where was the Bagdad railway and what was its object? Why 
do we speak of a "Berlin to Bagdad " railway ? What would have been 
the commercial importance and what would have been the political 
importance of a German dominion from the North Sea to the Persian 
Gulf ? of the new plan via Ukraine and the Caucasus ? 

4. Give at least two reasons why Germany would wish to control 
both Belgium and Holland. Show how the acquisition of the Belgian 
and Dutch colonies would have fitted very well into the German scheme 
of world domination. 

5. Who are the junkers and what part have they played in the 
government of Germany? Name some of the German ideas which 
are barbaric and out of date. Explain that Germany is undemocratic. 

6. What is kultur? What is meant by the phrase "Deutschland 
uber Alles"? To what extent do the Germans treat any other white 
peoples as equals ? 

7. Name all the reasons you can give from your reading of Lesson 
I to show why the other European countries were aroused against 
Germany before 19 14. 



2. HOW EUROPE WAS AROUSED AGAINST GERMANY 

(Before 1914) 

Formation of the Dual Alliance 

As we noticed in the previous lesson, it was Germany's foreign 
policy in the years following 1871 to isolate France but to keep on 
friendly terms with all other countries. She did this rather suc- 
cessfully for about twenty years, except on two or three occasions. 
In 1875 the German war party was disgusted because France had 
paid off within so short a time the huge war indemnity of a billion 
dollars assessed at the close of the Franco-Prussian War. The 
German war lords were alarmed also at the reorganization of the 
French army and were chagrined because France had erected a 
chain of defensive forts at Verdun and elsewhere on her eastern 
border. Preparations were made to invade France once again in 
order to humiliate her more completely. This plan was foiled by 
the alertness of the French diplomats, who asked the British and 
Russian governments to intercede in behalf of the new French 
Republic. When protests were presented in Berlin, the German 
officials denied that they had ever thought of attacking France 
again. The incident is significant as showing that, even as early 
as 1875, when both Great Britain and Russia were on quite friendly 
terms with Germany, they were willing to join with France against 
the arrogant military plans of the German Empire. 

Russian feeling against Germany was really first aroused in 1878. 
By the Treaty of Berlin, after the Russo-Turkish War, victorious 
Russia gained practically nothing, whereas Austria was allowed 
to " occupy and administer" Bosnia and Herzegovina, simply as the 
price of her neutrality. Some years later, Russia learned that 
Germany had joined in an alliance^ with Austria for the express 
purpose of fighting Russia, if necessary. Without delay the Rus- 

1 See page 12. 
8 



EUROPE AROUSED AGAINST GERMANY 9 

sians began to look to the French for support, and in 1891 those two 
countries formed the Dual Alliance against Germany. This alliance 
assured Russia the money which she needed for building her rail- 
roads and the making of other necessary and valuable improve- 
ments ; and, by giving France an international friend, it brought to 
an end her period of isolation. It is interesting to notice that soon 
after this alliance was made a Russian fleet visited the French 
harbor of Toulon, and Russian sailors, arm-in-arm with French 
jackies, strolled down the streets singing the Marseillaise, the hymn 
of republican France, whose use was forbidden within the territories 
of the tsar of all the Russias. 

England and France Reach an Understanding 

While Bismarck was trying to keep France isolated, he encouraged 
her to seek new colonies, especially in Africa. With his usual un- 
scrupulous diplomacy, he urged France to acquire Tunis, opposite 
Sicily, because Italy wanted Tunis. In this way he aroused in 
Italy hatred toward France and induced Italy in 1882 to join Ger- 
many and Austria in the Triple Alliance. Bismarck's chief hope, 
however, was that in time England and France would come into conflict 
because of their colonial claims, as they had done on the North 
American continent and in India in the middle of the eighteenth 
century. When their expanding colonial empires did clash, he 
expected that Great Britain would join Germany and accept his 
leadership more completely than ever before. 

In 1898, after the retirement and death of Bismarck, it looked as 
though that far-seeing statesman was right. A small French force 
under Captain Marchand crossed the burning sands of the Sahara 
Desert into the Egyptian Sudan in order to extend French sway 
into the upper valley of the Nile river. It happened that Kitchener 
of Khartoum, who had just completed the conquest of the Sudan, 
was in the neighborhood. He immediately came to Fashoda where 
Marchand was and insisted that the French should leave the Nile 
valley to Great Britain. The French people were quite indignant, 
but the new minister of foreign affairs, Delcasse, an ardent enemy 
of Germany, urged the French to withdraw their claims to any part 
of the Nile basin. 



10 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

Strangely enough, the Fashoda affair did not make England and 
France enemies; on the contrary it was used by Delcasse, after the 
accession of King Edward VII, as the basis for a new friendship 
between the two countries. The way had been prepared for this 
in Great Britain. For several years there had been a growing bitter- 
ness among Englishmen against Germany. The old friendship be- 
tween the two countries was on the wane before the kaiser, in 1896, 
sent his famous telegram to Oom Paul Kruger, President of the 
Transvaal Republic, congratulating him on the capture of some 
English raiders who had started an insurrection in the Transvaal. 
The hostility of the English toward the Germans was aroused still 
more when Emperor William at Damascus in i8g8 publicly pro- 
claimed to the three hundred million Mohammedans of the world 
that he was their friend. England believed that German friend- 
ship for the Mohammedans in Egypt and in India was a menace to 
her rule in northern Africa and in southern Asia. 

England's friendship for Germany, however, stood those tests, 
but it did not survive the creation of a great German navy. Great 
Britain believes rightly that not simply her sovereignty as a Euro- 
pean nation, but her very existence, depend upon her control of the 
seas. When the Germans, therefore, began to build dreadnaughts 
in larger numbers than the English, the latter immediately took 
alarm, because of the nightmare of an invasion from Germany, or 
interference by Germany with their commerce or imperial policies. 
The English were therefore ready to join their ancient enemies, 
France and Russia, against the aggressive and domineering policy 
of the Germans, who were now the most formidable of Britain's 
foes. In 1904 England and France reached an understanding, the 
^^ Entente Cordiale/^ by which they agreed to be friends and to pro- 
tect each other's interests in northern Africa. Great Britain was 
to have a free hand in Egypt, whereas France was to be allowed 
to develop Morocco without interference. France now had the 
friendship of two great nations, Great Britain and Russia. In case 
of trouble with Germany she could count at least on the moral 
support of the former and on the military aid of the latter. 



EUROPE AROUSED AGAINST GERMANY II 

The Algeciras Conference and the Triple Entente 
In 1904-05 the Russians were decisively defeated by the Japanese 
in the Russo-Japanese War. The kaiser took advantage of the 
failure of the only ally France had at that time to interfere with 
French rights and interests in Morocco. He demanded that a 
conference of the great Powers should be called to curb alleged 
French aggressions in that country. Rather than oppose the kaiser 
in this warlike, domineering mood, and risk a direct blow from the 
''mailed fist," the French people dismissed Delcasse and agreed 
to the conference, although it hurt their pride and injured their 
prestige. The conference was held at Algeciras, almost under the 
shadow of Gibraltar. Whenever a vote was taken, Germany had 
the support of only one of the Powers, Austria, for even Italy had 
again become friendly with France, largely through the influence 
of Delcasse. To be sure, the conference declared that Morocco 
was under the protection of all the Powers, but France, with the 
negligible assistance of Spain, was allowed to control the police 
system and the finances of the country. It can thus be seen that 
the work of the Algeciras Conference was a serious blow to German 
leadership in Europe} 

At the Algeciras conference the British and Russian envoys had 
many talks together. They believed that their countries should 
bury the hatchet and smoke the pipe of peace. The next year it 
was easy, therefore, for England and Russia to get together, be- 
cause they feared the German scheme of expansion via the "Berlin 
to Bagdad railway" to the Persian Gulf. They agreed to com- 
promise their differences in Asia and to divide Persia into a northern 
sphere of influence controlled by Russia, a southern sphere con- 
trolled by Great Britain, and a neutral zone between. Since France 
was already allied with Russia, and England had an understand- 
ing with France, the three countries practically created a new 
Grand Alliance, known, however, simply as the "Triple Entente." 

* The Morocco crisis of 1905 was succeeded by others. In 191 1 one 
of these, known as the "Agadir affair," threatened for months to 
disturb the peace of Europe. Great Britain informed Germany that 
if war were made on France, she would help the French. Germany 
then yielded, but she immediately began preparing for a war, since 
diplomacy had failed to give her what she wanted. 



12 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

To all practical purposes Europe was now divided into two great 
groups, the central, consisting of the Triple Alliance, which was 
discussed in the preceding article, and the other, composed of the 
most important powers in eastern and western Europe, that is, the 
Triple Entente. It would seem as though these two groups of 
nations would tend to create a balance of power and therefore to 
maintain the peace of Europe. Undoubtedly they would have 
done so but for the aggressive spirit of the Teutonic countries, which 
were not satisfied with the prestige and power they already enjoyed 
in Europe, but insisted upon making further trouble outside or in 
demanding far more than they had on that Continent. 

Balkan Crises Leading to War 

In 1908 there occurred in Turkey a revolution by which the young 
Turks gained control of the government. Austria took advantage 
of the resulting confusion and incorporated the provinces of Bosnia 
and Herzegovina, which according to the Treaty of Berlin (1878) 
were under her control but were still under the suzerainty of the 
Turkish sultan. Russia protested against this violation of a treaty. 
She was particularly aggrieved because she hoped in time to unite 
under her own protection all of the Balkan states, which are in- 
habited chiefly by Slavic peoples who are allied in race to the Rus- 
sians. She even went so far as to begin mobilizing her troops. 
Immediately the kaiser "donned his shining armor" and "shook 
his sword in its scabbard." The Russian army, demoralized by 
the war with Japan and further demoralized by the Russian Revolu- 
tion of 1905-06, was in no condition to meet the forces of Germany. 
So Russia backed down. 

In 19 1 2-1 3, after Italy had made war successfully upon Turkey, 
the Balkan states, which had already formed a Balkan union, also 
fought Turkey, in order to take from her provinces inhabited almost 
entirely by Slavic peoples. Turkey in Europe was confined to a 
very small corner of southeastern Europe; thereafter she reached 
only from Constantinople to Adrianople. Each of the Balkan 
states and Greece increased its area considerably. Austria was 
alarmed for fear that the Slavic peoples of the Balkans would try, 
even more actively than in previous years, to unite not only the 



EUROPE AROUSED AGAINST GERMANY 13 

Slavic races of the Balkan states but to include also the Slavs in 
Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as those who lived in southern 
Hungary. The crown prince of Austria was one of the most active 
opponents of this Pan-Balkan and Pan-Slavic policy. His assassina- 
tion at Serajevo, late in June, 19 14, gave Austria an excuse to de- 
mand of Serbia, one of the chief Balkan states, that she should 
publicly and completely put an end to this agitation. Austria's 
ultimatum, delivered late in July, IQ14, would have left Serbia neither 
independence nor self-respect. Russia thereupon protested. When 
it became evident that Russia would protect Serbia, the German 
war party once more tried to intimidate Russia by rattling the 
sword in the scabbard, but this time Russia refused to back down. 
Within a week practically all Europe was embroiled in a war " made 
in Germany." 

REFERENCES 

Hayes, Political and Social History of Modern Europe, 691-710. 

Ashley, Modern European Civilization, Chapter XXI. 

Hart, The War in Europe, 78-103. 

Von Bulow, Imperial Germany, 60-122. 

Lippmann, The Stakes of Diplomacy. 

Gibbons, The New Map of Europe, 71-161, 343-350. 

Seymour, Diplomatic Background of the War, 38-60, 1 15-194, 236- 

244. 
Allen, The Great War, Causes and Motives, 80-203. 
Fife, The German Empire Between Two Wars, 3-97. 
Bullard, The Diplomacy of the Great War, 36-149. 
Tardieu, France and the Alliances. 
Rose, The Development of the European Nations (1870-19 14). Part 

II, 1-43, 320-384. 
Fullerton, Problems of Power. 
Schmitt, England and Germany (1740-1914). 

QUESTIONS 

I. What were the peace terms at the end of the Franco- Prussian 
war in 187 1 ? To what extent did Germany succeed in weakening 
France, and in isolating her as much as she expected ? What was the 
war incident of 1875 and what effect did it have ? 



14 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

2. Why did Germany hate and fear Russia? Why have Austria 
and Russia been natural enemies? In 1878 why was Russia aroused 
against both Germany and Austria ? 

3. What countries organized the Dual Alliance? What did each 
gain from the alliance ? 

4. Why did Bismarck encourage France to gain colonies in Africa? 
What was the Fashoda affair and how was it used by Delcass6 to improve 
the friendship between France and Great Britain ? 

5. Trace the development of British hostility to Germany, noting 
the influence of (a) German aggressions in general, (&) unfriendly acts 
of the present kaiser before 1900, and (c) the real menace of Germany's 
growing navy. 

6. What was the "Entente Cordiale"? Why did it lead to the 
Triple Entente ? Since there was a Triple Alliance, why was a defensive 
Triple Entente necessary? Did these groups of Powers maintain or 
menace the peace of Europe ? 

7. Did conditions in Morocco warrant a quarrel between the Powers ? 
If not, why was the Algeciras Conference called? What ejffect did it 
have upon the great Powers of Europe ? 

8. If Austria had, according to the Treaty of Berlin, only the right 
to "occupy and administer" Bosnia and Herzegovina, what right had 
she to annex those provinces in 1908 ? Why did Russia protest against 
this action ? Why did Germany threaten Russia with war ? Why did 
Russia back down ? 

9. Did the Balkan wars give an advantage to the Balkan countries 
favored by Germany and Austria or to those which were friendly to 
Russia? To what extent did the Moroccan question and the Balkan 
question increase the military preparedness of the European countries ? 
Why was the assassination of the crown prince of Austria an excuse 
rather than a reason for war ? 

Note. — As these studies are purely introductory to the main sub- 
ject, "The Problems of the Nation and the Schools in Relation to the 
War," no attempt is made in later papers to give any account of mili- 
tary events since 19 14. 



3. HOW THE WAR CAME TO AMERICA 

On the sixth day of April, 191 7, Congress adopted a resolution 
which opened with the sentence : ' ' The state of war between the 
United States and the Imperial German Government which has 
thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally de- 
clared." It closed with the following forceful and significant words : 
'* To bring the conflict to a successful termination all the resources of 
the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States." ^ 

It is more than a hundred years since America has been involved 
in any European contest ; it is nearly a century since we annoimced 
to the world, as the basis of the Monroe Doctrine, that we do not 
interfere in distinctively European affairs and that therefore Euro- 
pean nations should refrain from interference in distinctively 
American affairs. At that time we stated " it is only when our 
rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or 
make preparations for our defense." In the light of these prin- 
ciples of American foreign policy, it may be interesting to know 
HOW the United States was brought into a conflict which in 191 5 
seemed a distinctively Eiu-opean affair; we shoiild Like to under- 
stand WHY the United States became involved in a war which in 
the early months of 19 17 ceased to be an affair of the Old World 
alone. 

. How All Europe Became Embroiled in War 

About the first of August, 19 14, the great Powers of Etu^ope be- 
came involved in the greatest war of all history. The conflict 
started when Austria sent to Serbia a severe ultimatiun, which 
Austria and Germany were confident would not be accepted either 

1 Lessons 3 and 4 and some others are long enough to constitute 
double lessons. It may be advisable before taking up each lesson to 
read the whole of each article. The rest of the first day spent on the 
lesson may then be devoted to a more careful study of the first part. 

IS 



1 6 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

by Serbia or by Russia. Germany was willing to have the Balkan 
problem bring on a general war, because then she could demand that 
Austria support her policy to the very end, and for the further 
reason that expansion southeastward would help to bring the much- 
desired world empire from the North Sea to the Persian Gulf .^ The 
time seemed especially favorable for Germany. Russia, which was 
thought to be unprepared, was suffering from a great strike, France 
was in the midst of difficulties started by a politician Caillaux, since 
found to have had treasonable dealings with Germany, and Great 
Britain had reached a most serious crisis due to Irish Home Rule 
problems. To a German war party, which had been preparing for 
forty years, — drilling, arming, and perfecting military methods, 
— equipped with magnificent field artillery and rejoicing in the 
possession of new siege guns of unexampled destructiveness, it 
seemed as though " the day" had come. 

Serbia refused to yield on one of the points demanded by Austria 
because yielding on this point amounted to a virtual surrender of 
her national independence, and she was supported by Russia in 
her opposition. Within three days the German troops were being 
mobilized on the eastern border against Russia and on the western 
border against France. On the fourth of August the German troops 
invaded Belgium, partly because Belgium gave the most direct 
route to Paris, and partly because Germany desired the port of 
Antwerp, which Napoleon had graphically described as " a pistol 
pointed at the heart of England." Great Britain immediately 
declared war. Legally, her opposition to Germany was based upon 
Germany's violation of Belgium's neutrality, which had been guaran- 
teed by all the great Powers ; actually, she did so because of Ger- 
many's aggression against two other members of the Triple Entente, 
and because, if Russia and France were overpowered by the Central 
Empires, eventually the weight of Germany's great military strength 
would be thrown against England. As Lord Northcliffe says, 
''Whether Prussia had invaded Belgium or not, Britain would have 
been obliged to fight in self-defense." The first week of August 
England mobilized her entire fleet and later created an actual 
blockade of German ports. This was not a close-in blockade, similar 

^ See page 3. 



COMING OF WAR TO AMERICA 1 7 

to that maintained by the Union blockading fleets at the time of 
our Civil War, but it was completely effectual and therefore legally 
a true blockade, because it was impossible for commerce to go to or 
from Germany either through the narrow English Channel or 
through the wide opening of the North Sea between Scotland and 
Norway. 

Besides these countries, many others became engaged in the 
war. Tiirkey and Bulgaria were drawn in on the side of the Central 
Empires. Italy made war on Austria to regain territory inhabited 
by Italians. Portugal, Rumania, and Greece joined the Entente 
Allies. The chief European neutrals at present are Spain, Switzer- 
land, Holland, and the Scandinavian countries. Practically all 
Europe was therefore involved in the war, hut it remained until igiy a 
European rather than a world conflict} 

Efforts of America to Remain Neutral 

At the very beginning of the war the United States declared her 
neutrality and the President urged that all American citizens be 
truly and strictly neutral. In accordance with the custom of all 
nations and ages, we left our ports open to the vessels of all countries 
on equal terms. At these ports foodstuffs, munitions of war, copper, 
and other materials necessary for war supplies could be obtained 
by any unarmed merchant vessel which served as an ocean carrier. 
Because of the blockade of the German ports which was maintained 
by Great Britain and her allies, it was impossible for German vessels 
to take advantage of these opportunities, but the merchantmen of 
the Allies and ships which flew the American flag carried these war 
supplies in constantly increasing quantities from our Atlantic sea- 
ports to the war area. 

The primary purpose as well as the effect of the blockade was to keep 
Germany from getting war supplies, including food. In order to 
break this blockade and secure means by which German vessels 
could bring to that country supplies of food and necessary war 

materials, the Germans began early in the year igi^ the first submarine 

i 
1 In 19 1 5, Japan, allied to Great Britain, declared war on Germany. 
Among other countries that are involved in the war are Montenegro, 
Brazil, Cuba, China, Chile, Siam, and the United States. 
c 



1 8 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

warfare. These submarines were small, with limited sailing radii, 
and were soon hunted down and destroyed at the bases which had 
been established on the Irish coast. Their effect upon the blockade 
was practically negligible. Seeing this, the German government 
adopted a policy of ^^f rightfulness,''^ which they hoped would destroy 
the ever-tightening cordon of blockading ships. All the world re- 
members that on the seventh day of May, igi^, the British passenger 
steamship " Lusitania'' was torpedoed from a submarine, absolutely 
without warning. To be sure, German agents had notified passen- 
gers on the "Lusitania" that the vessel was marked for destruction, 
but no rule of war ever recognized by any civilized people could 
excuse the wanton and wholesale killing of women and children in 
such a manner. The sinking of the "Lusitania" resulted in a loss 
of life to 1 14 Americans, all of whom were neutrals and noncombat- 
ants. On protest of the American government, Germany relaxed 
her submarine policy, but she offered no satisfaction or proper ex- 
planation for this ruthless deed. Since, however, the sinking had 
occurred within the war zone, and Germany did modify her sub- 
marine policy and for months thereafter kept assuring us that she 
would not attack unarmed merchant vessels or passenger ships, 
the United States government did not follow up the ''Lusitania" 
outrage by a declaration of war at that time. We must bear in 
mind, however, that, in spite of the fact that nearly two years 
elapsed before war was declared, the sinking of the " Lusitania'^ was 
the first important event directly (if not closely in time) connected 
with the outbreak of war between Germany and the United States. 
After that outrage war could have been avoided only by the Ger- 
man government ; instead that government sought simply to keep 
us out of the war and only refrained from too flagrant interference 
with our rights. 

After months of patient waiting, during which several Americans 
lost their lives through submarines, in March, 19 16, a French 
steamer, the "Sussex," plying between ports on either side of the 
English Channel, was sunk, together with many of her 325 passen- 
gers, among whom were American citizens. The United States 
government immediately protested in vigorous terms and on the 
eighteenth of April notified Germany that "the government of 



Coming of war to America 19 

the United States has been very patient," but it could tolerate no 
longer "the use of submarines for the destruction of an enemy's 
commerce." We asserted that submarine warfare "is, of necessity, 
because of the very character of the vessels employed and the very 
methods of attack which their employment of course involves, 
utterly incompatible with the principles of humanity, the long- 
established and incontrovertible rights of neutrals, and the sacred 
immunities of noncombatants." A few days later, on the fourth 
of May, the German imperial government notified President Wilson 
that unarmed merchant vessels "both within and without the area 
declared as naval war zone, shall not be sunk without warning and 
without saving human lives, unless these ships attempt to escape or 
offer resistance." 

Events Leading Directly to War 

Although the Germans did not keep that promise, there was at 
least some pretense of attempting to preserve it until the thirty- 
first of January, 19 17, when the German ambassador notified the 
authorities in Washington that on the following day a ruthless sub- 
marine campaign would begin, that an immense new war zone had 
been created, and that "all ships met within that zone will be sunk.'' 
Immediately passports were handed to the ambassador, von Bern- 
storff, and Gerard, our ambassador at Berlin, was recalled. 

The acts of Germany during the last week of January, 19 17, were 
in a sense a declaration of war against all neutrals, and particularly 
against the United States. The German imperial government 
considered war with the United States inevitable as a result of 
this new ruthless submarine campaign. To be sure of this we have 
only to recall that before Germany told us of her new submarine 
plans, her foreign minister, Zimmermann, sent through her embassy 
in Washington papers which urged Mexico to join with Germany and 
Japan in making war upon the United States. Mexico's share of 
the spoils was to be Texas and our two newest states, Arizona and 
New Mexico. Japan was to find her compensation in territory on 
the Pacific coast.^ Was there ever baser treachery to a neutral 

1 Japan, of course, had no knowledge of, or share in, this plot. Mexico 
repudiated the German proposal. 



^O THE WAR AND AMERICA 

and friendly power, which had remained neutral in spite of the re- 
peatedly broken promises of Germany, in spite of her perfidy, in 
spite of her intrigue? A week earlier the German ambassador in 
Washington had requested "authority to pay up to ^50,000 in 
order as on former occasions to influence Congress through the 
organization you know of, which can perhaps prevent war." As 
early as the first of February, 19 17, we had come to the cr6ssroads. 
The wonder is not that we declared war, but that we waited until 
April 6, 19 1 7, after the Russian revolution had shown that, if we 
continued neutral, the Allies might be overwhelmed by the Central 
Empires. 

Strangely enough, the events which showed that Germany was 
determined to have war with the United States followed closely 
President Wilson's great peace speech before the United States 
Senate, January 22, 191 7. In this address, which will remain one 
of our most important state papers. President Wilson stated the 
principles upon which American democracy stands, urged the 
formation of a league to maintain the peace of the world, and 
brought out those conditions upon which the great conflict must 
be settled. This speech was, in a sense, the culmination of two 
and one-half years of statesmanship by which the President had 
sought, successfully to that time, to keep the United States out of 
the war. After the outbreak of the Russian revolution, however, 
the assistance of the United States was indispensable. 

Direct, Fundamental, and Immediate Causes of War 

This brief survey gives us some idea of historical events which are 
connected chiefly with attacks upon, or attempts to protect, the 
neutral trade of the United States. It outlines the most important 
changes in that series of events which was the direct cause of war 
with Germany. In the case of the present war, as in all historical 
movements, direct or immediate causes must not be confused with 
the fundamental causes. In other words, although these events 
tell the story of how the war came to America, they do not necessarily 
explain why America is at war. To understand that, we must 
consider some of the American principles which were involved in 
our relations with Germany and show that the German method 



COMING OF WAR TO AMERICA 21 

of treating our trade was only one of a number of reasons why we 
are at war with Germany. When we recall the aggressive program 
of German "Weltpolitik," ^ for example, we realize that if Great 
Britain, as well as France and Russia, should be unable to hold her 
own against Germany and her allies, in time the United States 
would bear the brunt of the struggle to make kultur dominant in 
the New World as in the Old. We naturally waited until we had 
proved that we were menaced by German expansion. When we 
had that proof, as we had in the spring of 19 17, we knew that self- 
preservation was the most fundamental cause of waging A war of 
SELF-DEFENSE against Germany. 

One IMMEDIATE but not direct cause was the way we were 
treated by German sympathizers in this country. In 191 5 repeated 
attacks were made upon our property and industries by German 
agents who tried to destroy materials that might be used by the 
Allies. We know now that, before the outbreak of the Great War 
in Europe, there were numerous paid German spies in America 
seeking to create public sentiment favorable to Germany, even if 
it were necessary to corrupt American officials or to buy up Ameri- 
can newspapers. After the war broke out, the diabolically efficient 
but pernicious spy system of Germany was extended. As Secretary 
Lane says, "She violated our confidence. Paid German spies 
filled our cities. Officials of her government, received as guests 
of this nation, lived with us to bribe and terrorize, defying our law 
and the law of nations." 

" FrIGHTFULNESS " AND ATROCITIES AS CAUSES OF WaR 

Not least of the reasons why we are at war with Germany is the 
fact that since the war began, the advocates of kultur have out- 
raged all sense of decency and committed acts inexcusable, even in 
war. "With a fanatical faith in the destiny of German kultur 
as the system that must rule the world, the imperial government's 
actions have, through years of boasting, double dealing, and deceit, 
tended toward aggression upon the rights of others." ^ This is 

^ See pages 4 and 5. 

2 Committee on Public Information, '* How the War Cam? to Amer- 
ica,'' p. 21. 



22 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

not the place to give a recital of the crimes against civilization 
committed by those to whom the name Hun has been applied, not 
inappropriately, it must be admitted. We have but to remember 
that Belgium's independence and neutrality were guaranteed by 
the nations, yet Belgian independence was treated by the Prussian 
war party as a "scrap of paper. '^ Among the least of the offenses 
committed were the exaction of huge indemnities for reasons that 
even the invaders could not specify, the transportation of workers, 
the enslavement of men and women to help the Germans carry out 
their plans, the disregard for the rights of owners, and the devilish 
misuse of Belgian property. The list of Belgian atrocities should 
include the use of helpless girls and women as screens for advancing 
troops, the burning of towns, and the slaughter of unoffending 
inhabitants. 

The policy of "f rightfulness^' which was used against Belgium 
was used with greater severity against Serbia and only less com- 
pletely against Poland. In the countries of the Entente Allies that 
same policy led to air raids upon undefended towns and to the 
killing of defenseless women and children. On the highways of the 
sea it recognized no laws of humanity ; even the hospital ships and 
the Red Cross vessels, labeled so that even the kultur-mad sub- 
marine commanders could read, seemed especially marked for 
destruction. In the colonies of its opponents sedition has been sown 
broadcast but secretly, and Holy Wars have been preached to 
subject peoples of non-Christian religions. ''Its agents have con- 
spired against the peace of neutral nations everywhere, sowing the 
seeds of dissension, ceaselessly endeavoring by tortuous methods of 
deceit, of bribery, false promises, and intimidation, to stir up brother 
nations one against the other, in order that the liberal world might 
not be able to unite, in order that autocracy might emerge trium- 
phant from the war." ^ 

When we add to all this the appeal of a stricken Europe, her 
treaties broken, her fair lands desecrated, her homes invaded and 
wrecked, her peoples enslaved or transported, her men muti- 
lated, her women wronged, her children murdered — not to satisfy 

^ Committee on Public Information, "How the War Came to America,'' 

p. 21. 



COMING OF WAR TO AMERICA 23 

savage instincts but as part of a hideous scheme of intimidation 
and terrorization — what alternative had we but to demand that 
Prussianism be destroyed ? 

Preparation for Entering the War 

One thing more we need to consider; why we maintained our 
neutrality as long as we did. Before February, 1917, in spite of 
all provocations we had kept out of the war and had enforced our 
neutrality. Notwithstanding the fact that conditions in Europe 
made strong appeals to our prejudices and our passions, we had 
remained impartial, had tried to suspend judgment, had declared 
that it was our first duty to remain neutral. There were several 
reasons why we did this. Foremost among these was our attach- 
ment to the principles of our century-old Monroe Doctrine. In ac- 
cordance with this we refrained from any active share in a dispute 
which had its origin in Europe, so long as it could possibly he considered 
a European affair. Now that the European war had become a World 
War, the Monroe Doctrine no longer kept us from taking our right- 
ful place by the side of the nations that were fighting Prussian 
autocracy and brutality. 

As early as May, 1916, President Wilson declared that the conflict 
then raging was the last great war during which the United States 
could remain neutral. Even then, he admitted before the League 
to Enforce Peace, on May 27, 1916: "So sincerely do we believe 
these things that I am sure that I speak the mind and wish of the 
people of America when I say that the United States is willing to 
become a partner in any feasible association of nations formed in order 
to realize these objects 'and make them secure against violation." 
In other words, the President recognized that, if necessary, we must 
abandon our policy of isolation and bear our share of the burden 
to stand for the principles of right and honor and all that is best in 
the world's civilization. 

There was a second and even better reason why the United States 
desired to remain out of the war if possible. We were one of the 
great Powers, yet we had never joined with the others in the active 
management of the world's general affairs. When they had pinned 
their faith to huge armies or invincible navies and had been willing 



24 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

to stake their prestige and their futures upon the use of secret 
diplomacy and intrigue, and if necessary on resort to arms, we had 
used other means appropriate for the greatest democracy on the face 
of the globe ; we had pledged and we had practiced just regard for 
the rights of all nations, great or small ; we had declared that nations 
derive their just powers only from the consent of the governed ; 
and we had refrained from war with the hope and the intention of 
bringing world peace. By the year 191 7, we were forced, not to 
abandon these principles, but to modify our practice, and in order 
that the world might he made ^^ safe for democracy,''^ and "for the ulti- 
mate peace of the world and the liberation of its peoples, the German 
peoples included," we made war upon war. This in a sense is the true 
meaning of our declaration that war exists between democratic 
United States and the policy of domination of the arrogant autocracy 
which controls Germany and her allies. 

Why We Are at War — A Summary 

It may be well to state again some reasons why we became en- 
gaged in war with Germany in the early months of the year 19 17. 
In the first years of war there had been interference with American 
commerce and American citizens, but we were assured again and 
again either that Germany was not responsible or that the trouble 
would not recur. As the contest widened, however, the German 
government repeatedly broke its promises not to interfere with 
merchant or passenger ships, and while professing friendship for 
America because, as their highest officials later admitted, they "were 
not ready," made vast secret preparations to begin a new and ruth- 
less submarine warfare which should make it impossible for any 
great nation to remain neutral. 

When the Germans offered peace, or pretended to offer peace, in 
December, 1916, in such a way as to give them excuse for carrying 
on this assault upon humanity and its age-long rights upon the sea, 
when they filled our cities with spies and intrigued against the peace 
and honor of the American nation, when they called upon our 
southern neighbor, Mexico, and our Asiatic neighbor, Japan, to 
join with them in war upon the United States, which was remaining 
neutral under the most trying conditions possible; then the well-: 



COMING OF WAR TO AMERICA 2$ 

known patience of the American people had reached a point beyond 
which it could not easily go. Then we could understand why the 
European nations forgot their old enmities and joined together, in 
order that Germany might not have what she proclaimed as her 
''place in the sun," really the opportunity to create a great world 
dominion and to press kultur upon her rivals as well as her de- 
pendents. In Europe before 19 14 the place which Germany then 
held in the sun cast into the faces of neighboring peoples the dazzling 
glitter of a million steel-spiked helmets. By February, 191 7, the 
sinister shadow, not of one million, but of five million, reached to 
the shores of America and spread to the Pacific, startling the Ameri- 
can people out of their indifference and lethargy. 

A state of war did exist between the United States and Germany ; 
it was simply a question of time until the government of the United 
States should legally recognize the fact and take action against the dis- 
turber of the world's peace. At first we proposed armed neutrality, 
but that was but a temporary make-shift, a means of preparation 
for the real contest to follow. On the sixth of April, therefore, the 
government of the United States pledged all the resources of the 
country to bring to a successful termination this war, not simply to 
make the world safe for democracy, but by making war on war, to 
insure the peace of the world and to uphold the fundamental prin- 
ciples of modern civilization. We fight Germany in order that gov- 
ernment of autocracy, for kultur, by militarism, shall disappear from 
the face of the earth. 

REFERENCES 

Ashley, Modern European Civilization, Chapter XXII. 

Committee on Public Information, How the War Came to America: 

(Wilson) The President's Flag Day Address — with Evidence of 
Germany's Plans. 

(Wilson) The War Message and the Facts Behind It. 

Lane and Baker, The Nation in Arms. 

Lansing and Post, A War of Self- Defense. 

Notestein and Stoll, Conquest and Kultur. 

Tatlock, Why America Fights Germany. 
Ch^radame, United States and Pan-Germanism; Atlantic, 119, 721- 

731. 



26 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

Wilson, Why We Are at War. 

Roosevelt, America and the World War. 

Rogers, W. A., America's Black and White Book — Why We Are at 
War. 

Rogers, L., America's Case against Germany. 

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 
July, 1917, America's Relation to the World Conflict. 

Princeton University Press, World Peril as Viewed from the Stand- 
points of Democracy. 

Johnson, America and the Great War for Humanity and Freedom. 

Harding, A Syllabus of the Great War. 

New International Encyclopedia, XXIII, 384-392 ; International 
Year Book (1916), 746-754. 

The War Cyclopedia. 

American Year Book (1914), 100-105; (1915). 1-69; (1916), 55-79. 

QUESTIONS 

1. When did the United States come into the Great War? To 
what extent did Congress pledge the men of the nation, the money, 
and the business, in order to win ? 

2. Can there be any doubt now that Germany started the war? 
Why were conditions especially favorable for her the last of July, 1914? 
Did Germany succeed in her plan to overwhelm by surprise and quick 
marches first France and then Russia ? 

3. Why was a blockade of German ports established at the beginning 
of the war? To what extent was there interference with commerce 
between America and Europe ? If Germany had no share in foreign 
trade, was she justified in sinking unarmed merchant and passenger 
vessels in order to terrorize her opponents ? 

4. What was the "Lusitania" affair? Why was the "sinking of 
the ' Lusitania ' the first important event directly (if not closely in 
time) connected with the outbreak of war between Germany and the 
United States " ? Why did we protest against German use of sub- 
marines ? 

5. Show that Germany was not square and did not play fairly in 
connection with : (a) submarine warfare, (&) treatment of our officials 
and people, (c) attempted intrigues with Mexico and Japan. 

6. Explain as nearly as possible in President Wilson's own words : 
(a) how he tried to prevent war, (b) difficulties in staying out of the war, 
(c) conditions upon which the war must be settled, (d) why we are at war. 



COMING OF WAR TO AMERICA 27 

7. How important as causes of war were : (a) Germany's policy of 
world domination, (b) Germany's underhanded commercial and political 
methods, (c) German disregard for treaties and international law, (d) 
German f rightfulness, (e) the menace to civilization of Prussianism ? 

8. To what extent did we refrain from entering the Great War 
before 191 7 : (a) on account of the Monroe Doctrine, and (b) our desire 
to end the war because we were the greatest neutral nation? What 
do we mean by making the world safe for democracy ? 



4. THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY — THE GENERAL 
PROBLEM 

In previous lessons we have noticed how Germany developed 
her plan for world domination, how Europe was aroused before 
the Great War against the arrogant policies of Germany, and both 
how and why the United States was drawn into the world conflict. 
Before we go on with the introductory study of specific problems, 
it may be desirable to notice very briefly some conditions which 
exist at present and some purely general phases of the war problem 
or problems. 

Comprehension 

We cannot do anything for either ourselves or our country unless 
we know first what must be done. One reason why we have made 
a study of causes leading to the Great War in Europe and of the 
circumstances and conditions affecting our own entrance into the 
war is the fact that we cannot understand present problems with- 
out a knowledge of Germany's development, expansion, and plans 
for world dominion, as well as her autocratic rule, arrogant treat- 
ment of neutrals, and policy of brutality and '' f rightfulness." 
Knowledge of beginnings is valuable, but at the present time we 
are far less interested in either how the war broke out or why it 
came to America than we are concerned with the problem of conduct- 
ing the war and winning the war. For those of us who are not 
actively engaged in the conflict, a study of the problems arising 
out of it is more important than almost an3rthing else that we can 
do, because our knowledge at the best is limited, and our prepara- 
tion to do our share in the work depends largely upon our grasp or 
comprehension of conditions and difficulties. If we obey the in- 
junction of President Wilson, of United States Commissioner of 
Education Claxton, and of practically all our other great scholars 

28 



THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY 29 

and leaders, we shall do our utmost, first of all, to remain in school 
as long as possible, and secondly, to make far more than we have 
ever done before of all our educational opportunities. This may 
seem to us a tame substitute for a real share in the war, and yet, 
by industry and patient study, in the truest sense we may he "doing 
our bit'' by ''doing our best." 

When we say that we are fighting Germany we must keep in 
mind, as President Wilson has emphasized so many times, the 
distinction between the German imperial government and the 
German people. We must remember furthermore that for a non- 
militaristic nation to defeat soldiers once considered the best in 
the world, and the most completely organized people of Europe, 
steeped in traditions of militarism, thoroughly imbued with the 
doctrines of Prussianism, and dominated by a powerful war party, 
will require our utmost concentrated efforts. We must crush 
Prussianism and help the German people find a true democracy. 
But if, in_ the years to come, after the war is over, we find that 
Germany keeps a highly developed social organization and clings 
to many of her policies, there is probably only one way in which 
we shall be able to win another contest, one that is peaceful and 
economic, and that is by doing everything worth while better than 
she can do it. This seems a task worthy of the greatest nation 
of the world. 

In the last fifty years Germany, once the most disunited state 
in Europe, has become the most unified nation, in which the in- 
dividual exists for the state and in the state. Such a system makes 
it possible for the government to be all-powerful and use its au- 
thority in everyday affairs and in international crises quickly and 
effectively. To her compactly organized social or national organiza- 
tion we must oppose another system, democratic and freer, and more 
intelligent, and therefore more highly if not more compactly organized. 
In the eighteenth century we developed a federal system which 
made it possible for the separate American states to unite under 
a written constitution ; we were thus able to organize a union on a 
much more flexible basis than was in use in Europe, a higher and 
better form of national organization than then existed anywhere 
else in the world. So to-day we must, if necessary, reorganize 



so THE WAR AND AMERICA 

our social system in order to form, in the words of our Constitu- 
tion, "a more perfect Union." 

In the American plan of letting each man enjoy the greatest 
possible individual freedom, we must make the best use of personal 
initiative, voluntary cooperation, and efficient leadership, coupled with 
ititelligent obedience and unselfish loyalty; otherwise the German 
scheme of a closely knit social organization directed by the state, 
in which each person has his place assigned to him, will be more 
efficient than ours. In many respects their ideas and institutions 
are decidedly inferior to our own. Conspicuous among these is 
the doctrine of hate represented in the phrase "Gott strafe Eng- 
land." We must be careful that, in the intensity of otir feeling, 
we do not copy just such defects. Of course, there is no danger 
that we shall be tempted to imitate German "frightfidness." 
Nevertheless, we must not only avoid their faults ; we must really 
excel. In place of schools run on an autocratic basis and turning 
out well-disciplined and carefully prepared students who do not 
dare to fail, we must have schools in which teachers and pupils 
work in perfect harmony, in which pupils obey willingly, and do 
the right thing and the best thing without compulsion. We must 
have schools which are democratic, which are more efficient than 
those of Germany because they develop individuality, train oiu* 
students to think, and prepare them for successful self-direction 
in later life. In short, in every interest and activity we can defeat 
German autocracy in the truest sense only by working out those 
better methods, applied with American skill and dexterity, and 
developed, because of the flexibility of our plan, to a far higher 
stage than is permitted in any compactly organized but artificial 
scheme such as that of the Germans. 

More than twenty centuries ago, the famous Macedonian phalanx, 
solid, compact, almost irresistible, was met by the more open and 
more flexible Roman legion; it went down in defeat. Why? 
Because the legion was an organization in which the individual 
counted. So must the well-disciplined, compactly organized, auto- 
cratically directed German organization yield to a new America, 
democratic yet united, possessing social solidarity which is built 
upon personal freedom and voluntary cooperation. 



THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY 31 



Loyalty 



We are already finding on every side evidences of this new de- 
mocracy, for we are beginning to develop a new kind of unity 
and loyalty. A year ago many people were asking the questions : 
"Why are we in the war?" and ''What is this all about?" To- 
day we never hear these queries. One of the first and greatest 
problems of many conscientious people arises in connection with 
the limits of free speech. To what extent must we make our opinions 
and judgments conform to those of the majority ? A large ntimber 
of people find themselves, in conversation with their fellows, 
wondering just how far loyalty to the government demands their 
unqualified support in thought and in word of the attitude ex- 
pressed by our officials and of actions taken by those in authority. 
We have been accustomed for so many generations to look upon 
any limitation of free speech as an act of tyranny that we hesitate 
to limit in any real way the expression of our thoughts. We have 
come to look upon individual liberty as the most important char- 
acteristic of democratic government. We have undergone many 
hardships, and we have accepted a great degree of inefficiency 
in our governments rather than permit ourselves to interfere with 
what we believe to be personal liberty. Yet we find that in recent 
years, before the war broke out, a great many laws had been passed 
which limited the right and liberties of the individual. In order 
to protect ourselves as a society, or in order to protect those mem- 
bers of society who were not in a position to protect themselves 
properly, we enacted many such laws. Some of them dealt with 
child labor; these kept parents from securing wages through the 
work of little children. Some of them were concerned with woman's 
work; and those interfered with the right of a woman to work 
eleven or twelve hours a day for a mere pittance. Some of them 
provided for workmen's compensation; and those were declared 
unconstitutional at first, because they took from an employer 
his property without his own consent. 

We are beginning to develop a new method of handling many prob- 
lems in order to protect society, even if it interferes with the "rights" 
of some individual, so we therefore believe that freedom of speech 



32 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

and of the press must not injure society simply for the purpose of 
giving an individual full expression of his opinions or prejudices. 
We are agreed that the conduct of the war by the American people 
must not be obstructed by personal preferences, by individual 
objections to the methods used for securing troops or raising money, 
by personal desire for peace or for a different conduct of military 
or other necessary activities. This does not mean that we as 
individuals must deny ourselves the right to have our own opinions, 
but it does mean that, if the expression of those opinions interferes 
with the work of the American people in the conduct of the war, 
we must either be willing to suppress our criticisms or accept the 
punishment which the public thinks just — a punishment which 
is in proportion to the injury which, in the opinion of those in 
authority, oiu" words or acts have done. If we cannot or will not 
cooperate to that extent, we shall not only fail to win, but we 
shall seem to prove that democracy breaks down in crises. Are 
we willing to pay that price for "individual liberty" ? 

That we must yield to the public good, therefore, in a time like 
the present, our own opinions, and therefore some part of our 
liberty of conscience or of speech, scarcely permits of discussion. 
If several millions of our young men are willing to sacrifice their 
lives for America, we can at least give them an undivided and un- 
questioned support. Until those in authority have acted, we can 
help by suggestion and criticism, as well as in other ways. When 
a law has been passed or a work has been begun, we can help carry 
it through until something better can be found, possibly by keep- 
ing quiet if we preferred something different. All the world hates 
a destructive critic and a knocker — then why be one ? 

In no other way can America gain that unity, that enthusiasm, 
that solidarity without which not only the war, but America her- 
self, must fail. If we would defeat Germany, we must beat her. 
When we look across to Germany and see a nation half -starved, yet 
still united, still loyal to her rulers, still unbroken, we wonder, 
and our wonder is only dulled, not destroyed, by the knowledge 
that the German who protests, the German who quits, the German 
who rebels, probably loses his liberty, or is "shot at sunrise." We 
certainly shall not allow them to excel us in loyalty; then think 



THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY 33 

of how loyal we shall be, not because we must, but because we will 
it so. 

Cooperation 

Without loyalty, cooperation is impossible. Without intelligent 
support and cheerful sacrifice, cooperation is fruitless. We cannot 
all do the same things, nor is it necessary or advisable that all 
should try to do the same. No war is won absolutely by the 
soldiers in the trenches, although they bear the brunt of the fight- 
ing and must make the heaviest personal sacrifices, since they 
place their lives at the disposal of their countrymen. A large 
number, taken almost exclusively from the sturdy, earnest, able- 
bodied men of America, can and must be ready to cooperate by 
making up the fighting force of the American nation. Besides those 
soldiers and sailors who are in the thick of the conflict, there are 
almost as many connected with the military or naval service, or 
with the munitions or commissary department, whose work is 
just as indispensable for success on the field of battle, most of 
wfiom never get within the roar of guns at the front. There are 
other millions only indirectly connected with the fighting forces 
who are not yet organized under the government for the purpose 
of carrying on the regular or special work connected with the war. 
All workers, even though they may not be directly connected with 
the war, can help by doing their work better than it has ever been 
done before. 

Almost as essential is the cooperation of those in necessary in- 
dustries, unconnected, at least at the present time, with the military 
or naval forces of the United States or with any of our government 
agencies. The value of the tasks performed by these men is shown 
by the fact that those who do not go into the army are placed in 
essential industries ; theoretically at least all men between eighteen 
and forty-five must "work or fight." So vital to the successful con- 
duct of the war is the work of the men employed in transportation 
and coal mining that early in the war our government established 
control over the operation of all interstate railways and it has 
been proposed that the government should either supervise care- 
fully or should take over the coal mines. Of course it would be 

D 



34 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

impossible for the government to try to manage all the farms in 
addition, but it is not impossible for the government to supervise 
and direct the work of the farmers, without whose cooperation, 
the war will fail because necessary foods are not produced. 

To the rest of the adult Americans direct cooperation in action 
or in production is not easily possible. The most direct way in 
which these men and the women and children can help is, first, 
by doing the necessary duties belonging to each one and doing 
them well — if possible, doing them better than any one else could 
have done them. If we are patriotic, we can have no option in 
this matter. Is there any reason why one man between eighteen 
and forty-five should give up everything to "make the world safe 
for democracy" and another, because he has dependents, should 
be free to do an5rthing that he pleases ? Is there any reason why 
a man under forty-six should be asked to place his life and his 
time at the absolute disposal of our government and another over 
forty-five should be under no obligation, financial or personal, to 
help in any way that he can or in any way he is needed ? Is there 
any reason why a man of any age should sacrifice more than a woman, 
a hoy, or a girl? Is America the homeland only of the man in uni- 
form ; or is she our country, dear to every one of us ? We may not 
be called for service abroad, but do we ask for exemption, on the 
ground of age, from our duty to the nation? If ''work or fight" 
is a good rule for some, why not for all? As President Wilson 
said when our first selective service law was passed, "The nation 
needs all men; but it needs each man, not in the field that will 
most pleasure him, but in the endeavor that will best serve the 
common good." The second way in which every one can help is 
by carrying out in spirit and in detail the suggestions and direc- 
tions of the President or of the national and local food commissioners 
and of others whose business it is to organize, to save, and to help. 
A far larger number of persons can cooperate in the saving of food 
than can help in almost any other direct way, although by economy, 
by the cheerful paying of burdensome taxes, and by loans to the 
government at real sacrifices, every one of us can help. 



THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY 35 



Economy and Efficiency 



Cooperation must be positive to a certain extent, but, for the 
larger number of people, it is likely to be negative. We may not 
be able to fight at the front or to serve as government employees 
or even to grow wheat or turn out some other product necessary 
for the conduct of the war. We may, nevertheless, be able to 
help very effectively by practicing some highly valuable economies. 
As has already been suggested, even if we cannot produce food, 
we can save it for Europe. Under the guidance of Mr. Hoover 
and his able assistants in Washington and in the different states, 
a very large percentage of housekeepers have agreed to cooperate 
by following out general suggestions and by observing the special 
days and regulations which the Food Commission has emphasized. 
The amount that has been saved already through meatless and 
wheatless days shows that the American people are perfectly 
willing to save for the benefit of the boys at the front or for the 
starving civilians in northern France or Belgium. They have 
proved in addition, what is even more important, that they will co- 
operate and save voluntarily, an operation and a process which proves 
that Americans will find better ways than the Germans use for winning 
the war. We must not expect, of course, that volunteer methods 
alone will be sufficient in solving the problems of real crises, but 
there can be no question that the success of the food commission 
in securing the hearty support of all classes augurs well for ultimate 
victory. 

In Europe, and in America before the Civil War, economy has 
consisted chiefly of scrimping and saving; we call that thrift. 
In the United States during the last half century, economy has 
been used in a rather different sense. If a man found that his 
income was less than his expenditures, instead of reducing his 
expenses, he went out after more business, or he tried to make 
his plant or store or farm more productive. True economy com- 
bines some elements of both of these methods. It involves the 
elimination of wastes, provided that means real saving, but it 
places special emphasis, not upon limiting the materials needed 
for the production of some product, but the best possible use of those 



36 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

materials, for that, after all, is true economy. In the present war 
crisis we are confronted with the double problem of war economics. 
In general, we must make everything count. // we are producing 
goods, we must see that the product pays us for the effort made as 
well as the materials used. In the consumption of goods, we must 
moreover practice the old- type economy. We are confronted with 
this situation : there is not enough wheat or meat or other nutritious 
foods suitable for transportation to Europe to supply both our 
allies and ourselves, if we consume as much of those commodities 
as we have in the past. Since transportation facilities must be 
used first and to a large extent for carrying those things most essen- 
tial in the conduct of the war, we may be obliged to go without, or 
limit the use of, such articles as coal, which are brought to our 
particular community from a distance. We can see from this 
brief survey that economy requires knowledge and mutual help- 
fulness as well as a willingness to make sacrifices. 

Comprehension, loyalty, cooperation, and economy must go together; 
taken together they spell efficiency. It does not matter how much we 
know, if we can make no use of it. It is highly desirable that 
people should be good and honest and true ; but if they stop there, 
mankind has not made the progress that it should. If we help 
one another constantly and persistently, the value of this coopera- 
tion will depend upon whether it is intelligent, but it will depend 
far more on whether we are efficient. Efficiency then is to a certain 
extent the goal toward which we are striving, but it is a means 
rather than an end; for efficiency such as Prussianism produces, 
which is willing to sacrifice self-respect, life, and honor, costs too 
much. Efficiency is at once the easiest and the most difficult 
thing in the world to obtain. It is the easiest, because, when one 
knows how to do a thing, the sacrifice and the cost which the doing 
represents are almost negligible. The expert, whether a teacher 
or a scientist, a statesman or an engineer, reaches in a few seconds 
a decision which is impossible for the ignoramus or the novice. 
It is the most difficult because most experts have become proficient 
through long years of discipline and endeavor. He spoke truly 
who said that nine-tenths of genius is capacity for hard work. 

Sometimes efficiency depends far more on enthusiasm and earnest- 



THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY 37 

ness than it does on any other quahties. The citizen armies of 
the first French RepubHc, inspired by Carnot, "Organizer of Vic- 
tory," were more than a match for the ablest veterans of their 
enemies, by whom they were far outnumbered. With the patriot- 
ism aroused against Germany, the British workman found that 
he could speed tip his work and produce without difficulty, although 
at some extra cost to muscle, nerve, and brain, five times as large 
a daily product as he had turned out in a day before the war began. 
Real efficiency must combine a» large number of qualities : knowl- 
edge, skill, experience, persistence, and endurance. He who lacks 
one of these qualities will find himself to that degree less efficient 
than his fellows ; but he who combines them all and uses them 
with the same unselfishness and enthusiasm as the soldier who, 
inspired by his love of country, has offered his life for her sake, 
will have proved himself worthy of the highest place on our nation's 
roll of honor. 

How We Must Defeat Germany. A Summary 

We are not only in the war, but as Congress declared in its first 
war resolution, we are in the war with all our resources to fight to 
a finish. Even yet our allies across the water may not have found 
the best ways of cooperating with one another. Unable to use all 
of their own resources to the best possible advantage, they are 
looking to us, first, for foodstuffs, secondly, for financial support, 
thirdly, for military help, and last, but not least, for a combined 
effort which will end the war. So long as the war lasts, our problem 
is to turn a people who have opposed militarism, and whose thought 
and ways are the thoughts and ways of peace, into an efficient fighting 
unit. It may be impossible that we should create, in a month or a 
year or even a decade, a fighting machine such as the Germans have 
to-day, for they have back of them centuries of militarism made 
effective by fifty years of active preparation, a political and na- 
tional organization particularly adapted to carrying on war, a 
spirit of discipline and of subservience among the people which makes 
for military success. That need not trouble us, for our Sammies 
have already shown that whatever we lack in effective, autocratic 
organization, at least on the battlefield we far more than make 



38 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

up in enthusiasm, in determination, and in intelligent, voluntary- 
cooperation. We do not want, and we are not willing to use, the 
iron discipline which is the foundation of German unity. We will 
sacrifice almost anything rather than give up that spirit of freedom 
which is almost unknown in Germany. We must, therefore, ex- 
pect to win, at home or abroad, and beat the Germans at their 
own game, not by aping their methods, but by devising something 
better. When we think how much the Germans owe to American 
inventions which they have perfected, as for example, the airplane 
and the submarine, we must be ready not only to invent other 
engines of destructiveness or of helpfulness which are even more 
valuable, but we must develop and perfect them, we must make 
them far more efficient than any Prussian substitutes. In short, 
we must develop those qualities which are distinctively American ; 
those qualities which have already made this nation great in other 
channels than those of war. By the use of Yankee ingenuity, of 
Southern dash, and of Western grit, combined with American ver- 
satility and resourcefulness, we shall see this crisis through to a 
successful conclusion. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What did President Wilson mean when he said that it is a nation 
rather than an army which we must train for war? Name some of 
the ways in which the nation has already been prepared for its share 
of its great conflict. 

2. Can you name any problem which you can solve without know- 
ing anything about the problem itself or the best ways of solving such 
problems? Why should all political and educational leaders urge 
students to remain in school as long as possible? Why are special 
exemptions and privileges granted to high school graduates in the new 
army, and why will special privileges and opportunities be granted to 
our youngest soldiers after the War ? 

3. Show that we must understand Prussianism and the German 
problem as well as modern European history and the general European 
problem. Explain why we must understand American needs and par- 
ticularly those of our schools better than we need understand any 
European conditions. 

4. If the right of an individual conflicts with the right of a group 



THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY 39 

of which that individual is a member, which right must yield and which 
survive ? Is there any good reason why, especially in war, an individual 
should not be loyal enough to give up, for the welfare of the nation, 
any right which he has in time of peace ? 

5. Explain why "without loyalty cooperation is impossible; with- 
out intelligent support and cheerful sacrifice, cooperation is fruitless." 
If certain men between eighteen and forty-five are drafted, what are the 
obligations of the men of those ages who are exempted ? What is meant 
by the expression "work or fight"? Is a man over forty-five, a boy 
under eighteen, or any woman or girl free to say that because he or she 
is not drafted he or she has no obligations to his country ? In other 
words, if we are not called upon to give all, is there any reason why 
we should not be called upon to give what we can ? Are there any 
"essential industries" for others than men of draft age? Does the 
government or a worker decide what are "essential industries"? 
Should the school authorities and the heads of families or the boys 
and girls decide what are "essential tasks" for us ? 

6. If a nation has earned sixty billion dollars a year net, out of which 
it has saved twelve billion dollars, how much economy is probably 
necessary to pay eight billions in national taxes and sixteen billions 
in war loans out of a smaller income than it had originally ? 

7. Name an ignorant person who is highly efficient. Name a waste- 
ful man or woman whose efficiency would not be increased by reducing 
waste. Show what part is played in efficiency by : (a) knowledge, 
(&) skill, (c) experience, (d) persistence, and (e) endurance. 

8. Show what qualities of the French have been most helpful in 
defeating the Germans. What American qualities have been partic- 
ularly valuable from the military point of view ? In the larger problem 
of training the nation to defeat Germany, what are some of the impor- 
tant things that you and I can do ? 



II. FINANCE, FOOD, AND CLOTHING 
5. HELPING UNCLE SAM FINANCE THE WAR 

In a crisis for which five million American men have already 
offered their lives for their country, Uncle Sam is calling upon 
the rest of us for our dollars. If these men do not fail him when 
he calls, if they are giving up home, business, comforts, and per- 
sonal associates, we can at least do something to help them 
make good in their fight with Prussian autocracy. Even from 
the financial point of view, those men have made sacrifices far 
greater than we shall be called upon to do ; because men who have 
been earning seventy-five, one hundred, one hundred and fifty 
dollars a month, and possibly much more, are now enrolled in 
the army at a monthly wage of ^33. Even if we take only money 
into account, think at how great a financial loss to themselves 
these fine strong citizens of ours have put on the uniform of the 
American soldier. Besides these men who are offering their lives, 
in addition to making sacrifices, there are hundreds of thousands 
of others, connected with the government at Washington and 
throughout the states, devoting most of their energy to war work, 
as members of important councils, food administrators, or farm 
advisers. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of earnest Red Cross 
assistants, Y. M. C. A. workers, and helpers in scores of other 
unofficial war organizations are giving all or a considerable part 
of their time in order that Germany shall not rule the world. 

The Cost of the War 

Our savings are needed because never before in the history of the 
world has any war caused such wholesale destruction of wealth, or 
called for such heavy taxes or vast loans. How many of us have any 
idea of how much it costs to finance a war? Even if we quote 

40 



AMERICAN WAR FINANCE 41 

figures, they are apt to mean very little, because a billion dollars 
cannot be compared very easily with a million dollars, although a 
billion when written looks a little like a million because it has only 
three ciphers more. If we were to take two million silver dollars 
and lay them side by side in a line, they would reach from Boston 
to Providence. A billion dollars would stretch five hundred times 
as far ; it would give us a row completely encircling the globe, with 
enough left over to reach from New York to San Francisco. At 
the present time, the war is costing ^200,000,000 every day. Our 
line of dollars for a single twenty-four hours would reach from San 
Francisco to New York and from New York down to New Orleans. 
From the beginning of the war to January i, 191 8, the cost to all 
warring countries was estimated at 130 billions of dollars.^ Before 
it is over, it will probably be at least as much more. 

Unfortunately these vast sums are not being used as an invest- 
ment, nor are they capital employed to produce more wealth. 
Not only is the wealth itself destroyed in explosives, munitions, 
and food for non-producers, but it is used to destroy lives and 
property in addition. It is now over three years and a half since 
the war started. During that time there have been millions of 
lives lost, many more millions of bodies bruised and crippled, and 
untold billions of damage done within the war area to forests, 
farms, villages, and cities. The loss of ships alone .since the war 
began amounts to more than 10,000,000 tons. This takes no 
account whatever of the cargoes of these ships which were sunk, 
and most of them were heavily laden. These are only a very few 
of the indirect losses of war. They are not necesarily reckoned in 
the tables of statistics in which we add up the "costs." The costs 
include only those direct money expenditures made by the warring 

1 United States $6,700,000,000 

Great Britain 26,250,000,000 

France 19,600,000,000 

Russia 17,700,000,000 

Italy 5,850,000,000 

Other Entente Allies 11,350,000,000 

United States and Entente Allies .... $87,450,000,000 

Germany and her Allies 40,150,000,000 

Total, all warring countries $127,600,000,000 



42 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

peoples for food, for equipment, for cannon, for rifles, for munitions,^ 
or for a thousand other necessary war commodities. How are these 
enormous costs paid? In o?ie of three ways: by taxes, by loans 
of money made to the government which is making the expendi- 
tures, or by MONEY subsidies, for example, a transfer of money 
funds from the United States to France. 

In order to make a little clearer both the terrible costs of war and 
the need which the Allies have of our money subsidies, let us take 
the case of France. The French have been, in recent times, one 
of the most industrious and thrifty of all peoples. We have been 
misled into thinking that all Frenchmen were like the gay Parisian 
of the Paris boulevards, but they are, on the contrary, light-hearted, 
hard-working, thrifty, and trustworthy. The French nation has 
done the most real saving of any people of modern times. Their 
wealth before the Great War was estimated at a little more than 
^50,000,000,000, yet the French people, mostly the common people, 
had loaned to foreign governments, or had invested outside of 
France, a sum equal to about one fifth of that amount. Most of 
this had been saved within the preceding half century, a franc to- 
day, two francs to-morrow, or possibly only a few sous (fractions 
of cents) at a time. You wonder possibly how much of those 
savings, made at such great sacrifice, the French have been com- 
pelled to use during the last four years. The answer is a sad one, 
and it ought to make us willing, nay anxious and determined, to 
help. In the first two years France, which has borne the brunt 
of the fighting on the Western Front, where the war will be de- 
cided, laid on the altar of Mars, as a sacrifice which was wholly 
destroyed, a greater amount of wealth than the whole thrifty 
French nation had been able to save since 1850. For a period of 
the war to the first of January, 191 8, they had used an amount 
equal to two-fifths of their total wealth before 1914 in order that 
their country might not be a victim of Prussianism. If the war 
should continue for two years more, the French nation, which has 
been fighting the battles of civilization, your battles and mine, France^ 
which has furnished the brainy, well-trained, experienced military 

1 A single shot from one of the largest guns sometimes costs a thousand 
dollars. 



AMERICAN WAR FINANCE 43 

leaders, will he almost hopelessly bankrupt, unless we come to her help. 
Does she or does she not need oiir pennies and our nickels? She 
does not beg for gifts, but she asks for loans. Remembering that 
during the Revolutionary War, when we needed help, France was 
out first friend, can there be any doubt as to our answer ? Hats off 
to France and the French ! But cheers will not win ; give all you 
can and then start again. Give till it hurts. 

At the beginning of the Great War the total wealth of the United 
States was about four times that of France at that time. During 
the three years which elapsed before we entered the great conflict, 
while France was spending a third of all she had, the United States 
added nearly a fifth to what she possessed in 19 14. We may now 
estimate the wealth of the American people at ^250,000,000,000. 
If we were to spend as large a proportion of that as the French 
people have already given from their smaller supply, how much 
would we have given or loaned ? A sum close to a hundred billion 
dollars. Even then, we should have left an amount three times as 
great as the wealth of France before the war began, and a larger 
amount for each person — man, woman, and child — in the United 
States, than the French people had before the war broke out. 
Shall we hesitate to loan to the French again and again from our 
abundance ? 

War Taxation 

In all great wars it is absolutely necessary that taxes shall he in- 
creased very greatly. In the wars against Napoleon, which con- 
sumed approximately one-third of the total wealth of the British 
Isles, it is estimated that 40 per cent of the expenditures were met 
through the levying of taxes, which in some cases were quite heavy, 
upon a very large nimiber of articles and incomes. During our 
own Civil War there were taxes upon imports and upon practically 
all manufactured articles. In some cases taxes were levied at 
several different stages in the manufacture of the same article. 
There were also at that time income taxes levied upon all incomes 
equal to about ^250 in gold. The rates on larger incomes were 
not so high then as now, chiefly because very large incomes in 
those days were practically unknown. Since our government 



44 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

wishes twenty-four billion dollars for the fiscal year 1918-1919, 
Congress has just passed an eight billion dollar revenue act. 

The Allies in Europe are now depending to a considerable extent 
upon taxation. The British income tax, for example, is levied 
upon a majority of the earners of the United Kingdom. Only 
those are exempted from taxation whose yearly incomes are less 
than £130 (^650), and those with an income of £1000 (^5000) a 
year pay £150 (^750) to the government. Upon an income of 
£50,000 (about ^245,000),. the rate is 50 per cent of the whole 
income. In France and in Italy the taxes are very heavy indeed. 
In Germany the government does not stop with the levying of 
taxes; it makes every one work hard at some task which it pre- 
scribes and it takes most of what he or she produces for military 
needs. 

Before the war we had a low income tax which exempted persons 
with incomes of less than three or four thousand dollars a year. 
One of the first important measures passed by Congress after the 
war broke out was a War |levenue Act, which made the income 
tax apply to incomes of ^2000 for married men and to incomes 
of ^1000 for single persons. This tax was changed in 191 8, and 
rates were raised still higher. For the first ^4000 of taxable income 
the rate of the regular tax is six per cent, above that it is twelve 
per cent. In addition there are surtaxes on all large incomes. The 
rates on incomes of more than a million dollars a year are so high 
that the multimillionaire gives Uncle Sam practically three-fourths 
of his income. At the same time the government has appropriated 
part of the huge profits of war industries and profiteers. In 191 7 
there was an excess profits tax that reached all profits in excess of 
fifteen per cent on the capital stock; in 191 8 the rates were raised 
on this tax also. Even if we are not affected by those laws, we are 
helping in the payment of taxes whenever we pay three-cents postage 
on a letter or two cents for a postal card and when we purchase 
any article taxed by the government. 

Loans and Thrift Stamps 

As it is not possible for any people to pay all of the expenses of 
a great war while the war is being fought, it is necessary to borrow 



AMERICAN WAR FINANCE 45 

immense sums of money. Most of it is borrowed in large amounts. 
The lenders give the national government their dollars, and in 
return they receive finely printed documents called bonds. These 
bonds are a promise of the United States Government to the lender 
that at the end of thirty years, or possibly sooner, it will repay 
the amount named on the face of the bond, and that every six 
months it will pay him interest at the rate of four or four and one- 
fourth per cent on the sum loaned. 

When we pay taxes, we are giving from our wealth to help win 
the war; and it is right and proper that we should be forced to 
give liberally, for if Germany had carried out her scheme to domi- 
nate the world, we should have had very much less wealth than we 
shall have after paying the heaviest possible war taxes. But when 
we buy bonds we are not giving, we are investing. We shall get 
back all that we put in, and in addition twice a year we get interest 
on our investment. A good investor looks first at the security, 
then at the rate of interest. Uncle Sam gives the best security in 
the world, for the wealth at his command has many times the 
total value of his debts, and he gives us good interest. Simply 
to buy bonds is a matter of business, not of patriotism. Where 
then does the patriotism come in? In the sacrifices, the savings, 
to get the extra amount that Uncle Sam needs. 

For the ten years before we came into the Great War, the Amer- 
ican people were saving one dollar out of every five that they 
earned. No people had ever saved so large a percentage of their 
income before; but we did it easily because no other people had 
ever had so large an income per person. However, we did not 
practice thrift ; we were wasteful. We bought far more clothing 
than we required, we wasted a third of the food that we purchased, 
and we bought millions of articles that we did not need. The war 
came — milhons of workers have been taken out of productive 
industry and placed in war work. We are therefore producing 
less wealth than we did a few years ago ; and, whereas three years 
ago we spent very little on our army and navy, this year we must 
raise twenty-four billions of dollars for war expenses, eight billions 
through taxes and sixteen billions through loans. There is only one 
way that it can be done, and that is by saving nearly twice as 



46 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

MUCH AS WE DID THREE YEARS AGO.^ For every five dollars that 
IS earned at least two must be saved. That is the reason that we 
hear so much about thrift, more thrift, and still more THRIFT. 
The war cannot be won without far more thrift than we ever 
dreamed of before April, 191 7. Save food, not simply because 
our men in Europe need it, but because food- waste helps the Kaiser. 
Buy fewer new clothes, and new silk stockings, and new ribbons, 
because we must conserve supplies of clothing materials, and un- 
necessary expenditure is pro-German. Don't buy candy or chewing 
gum, go only a quarter as often to the movies, cut out all luxuries 
because thrift and thrift only will make it possible for us to let 
Uncle Sam have all the money he needs — not wants, but needs. 
He must have it. Otherwise our boys may go cold or hungry ; ^ 
otherwise there won't be enough rifles and machine guns, enough 
bullets and shells, to defeat the Huns. For most of us patriotism 
and thrift are much the same. How much have you saved ? How 
much can you save ? How much will you save ? 

When making a loan to the general public the government offers 
Liberty Bonds, for which every man, woman, and child should 
subscribe to the full extent of his ability to purchase. It is an 
interesting and surprising fact that, not only in this country, hut 
in Europe, each successive loan seems to reach a larger number of 
investors and to produce a greater sum of money than the loan pre- 
ceding} In order that those of us who cannot afford to buy bonds 
shall have a chance to help. Uncle Sam has brought out Thrift 
Certificates (W. S. S.), which at the end of five years will be worth 
five dollars. This month (October) these cost about ^4.21, and 
they will cost a little more each month until the five dollars is to 

^ Of course, some people must use their capital for bonds and stamps. 

^ Ten cents a day will keep a Belgian or French child from starving. 
When we are not saving for Uncle Sam, let's save for boys and girls 
and babies who have lost their homes in the war area. 

5 The first Liberty Loan was for two billion dollars at 3^ per cent, 
but the interest was exempt from taxation and the surtaxes or extra 
rates of the income tax of 191 7. The second Liberty Loan was for 
three billion dollars at 4 per cent, but provided that if more than three 
billion dollars was offered, one-half of the excess above three billion 
should be taken. This loan produced, therefore, about $3,792,000,000. 
The third loan produced still more and the fourth is for six billions. 



AMERICAN WAR FINANCE 47 

be paid. He is also issuing Thrift Stamps worth twenty-five cents 
each. With the stamps and the certificates he is furnishing cards 
on which the stamps can be pasted as we buy them. When we 
have filled our card with Thrift Stamps, we can trade it, with a 
small sum of money, for a Thrift Certificate, which on January i, 
1923, will be worth the five-dollar face value. These Thrift Cer- 
tificates we can paste on our cards, adding others as we find the 
time to earn extra money. Since some of us cannot save as much 
as twenty-five cents at one time, some banks are issuing scrip 
stamps which we can also paste on cards and later exchange for 
the Thrift Stamjfs. If we do these things, we are helping win 
the war; but we must remember that we are not giving these 
sums to Uncle Sam, because in the future we shall get back in 
actual cash more than we have loaned. We will get something 
infinitely more valuable to us — the feeling that we are a part 
of this great confiict, that we are doing our share, that if any trouble 
comes from lack of funds, we have at least done what we could to 
ward off the difficulty, because we have saved, possibly at a great 
sacrifice to ourselves. IsnH it worth while to think that we and 
Uncle Sam are partners in this tremendously important business of 
winning a war? And a war to protect civilization! 

Some of us are inclined perhaps to think, "What little I can do 
does not matter." Let us stop and think again. If it were possible 
for every pupil in the United States to save 5 cents a day, how 
much would be saved in a month ? Thirty million dollars ! In a 
year we would have twelve times that sum, or as much as it cost 
Uncle Sam to run the national government twenty-five years ago. 
We should save a little every day if possible, and in whatever 
ways we can. Instead of buying a piece of candy or a package 
of chewing gum, we can save that money toward a thrift stamp. 
One boy or girl working alone cannot save very much, but if 
twenty million others are doing the same thing, it means that 
the school children of America are becoming capitalists, and 
capitalists in the best cause possible — helping to fight for their 
country. 



48 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

REFERENCES 

McAdoo, The Liberty Loan. 

National War Savings Committee, United States Government War 

Savings Stamps. 
The Liberty Loan of igiy — Campaign Textbook. 
The Liberty Loan of igi'j — A Source Book. 
National City Bank, New York, Bulletins. 
What the War Costs, "Literary Digest," Jan. 26, 19 18, 72-78. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Give some idea of the cost of the war. Ho;^ does the cost to 
the Allies compare with that to Germany and her allies? Why will 
long-continued expenditure of wealth by the French be disastrous to 
that people ? If we should take over the whole debt that France has 
incurred since the beginning of the war, how much additional sacrifice 
would it make for us ? 

2. If a man who has been earning a hundred dollars a month serves 
Uncle Sam for thirty- three dollars, how much of a financial sacrifice 
does he make every day ? Would we not think we were doing wonder- 
fully well, on the same business income, to buy three fifty dollar bonds 
a year? Would that be anything like our share compared with the 
sacrifices made by the soldier ? 

3: What percentage of the cost of the war does our government 
plan to pay through the levying of taxes ? Upon which taxes or what 
kinds of taxes is chief dependence placed by our government ? Name 
some ways in which school boys and girls help Uncle Sam by the pay- 
ing of taxes. 

4. If possible, give some idea of the differences in income taxes 
paid by a man with an income of ten thousand dollars a year : (a) before 
the war, (b) under the law of 191 6, (c) under the law of 191 7, (d) under 
the law of 191 8, (e) in Great Britain. 

5. How many Liberty loans have already been issued? The most 
recent loan was for what sum? What rate of interest did the bonds 
bear and for how long a time were they issued ? What sum of money 
was raised by the sale of these bonds ? 

6. What is a thrift stamp ? What is a thrift certificate ? What do 
the letters W. S. S. mean ? Since the thrift stamps accumulate com- 
pound interest, are they not an excellent investment for big as well 
as little investors ? Is it not an advantage to Uncle Sam that he need 
not pay out interest on them until 1923 ? 



6. THE CLOTHING PROBLEM AND THE WAR 

Since the beginning of the war in 19 14 the world's yearly supply 
of raw materials and manufactured products has been used with 
great rapidity. At the same time the production of raw materials 
has continuously decreased. The world now faces a shortage in 
many of the necessities of life, most notably a lack of food and 
clothing materials. 

Elements of the Food and Clothing Problems 

Before taking up the study of the different commodities, let us 
consider for a moment some elements of the problem, (i) The 
first is the extraordinary food and clothing needs arising out of the 
war. Every day, particularly on the West Front, there is destruc- 
tion of millions of dollars' worth of wealth, and there is the constant 
use by soldiers at high pressure of hundreds of millions of dollars' 
worth of other forms of goods. A soldier needs very much more 
warm clothing and much heavier blankets than does the ordinary 
citizen, living a sheltered life in a home. Because he lives under 
a strain, and works hard, he needs unusually nutritious foods, 
such as wheat and animal fats. It is therefore necessary, if he is 
to be kept fit, that he should be supplied with all things necessary 
to make him as highly efficient as possible. (2) In the second 
place, the war zone cannot produce any of the articles needed hy the 
troops. These must he brought from a distance. They must there- 
fore he of a transportable nature. If a choice must be made 
between two things, one of which can be transported easily, and 
another which is bulky and expensive for carrying, then we must 
select the one which can be carried with least trouble and at the 
lowest cost. If we are dealing with foods, we must save for the 
troops in Europe those meats and cereals which can be transported 
without spoiling and which possess a very large amount of nourish- 
E 49 



50 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

ment compared with their bulk. Four types of foods are particu- 
larly usable in these ways — first, beef ; second, pork and animal 
fats; third, wheat; and fourth, sugar. (3) We must take into 
account the fact that, because half of the able-bodied men of the 
warring countries have been taken away from their regular occupa- 
tions, there is a shortage in almost all goods, including foods, pro- 
duced in Europe. To be sure the women of these nations have 
done the very best they could to make up the difference, but they 
have been obliged to add this work to their own, and therefore 
could not do both as well as they were done before the war. (4) On 
account of unfavorable weather, the lack of fertilizer nitrates 
(which have been used for explosives), and destructive plant 
diseases, especially in the cotton and wheat areas, the United 
States has had small crops of some of our most important staple 
products. For example, for two years our wheat production was 
not more than four -fifths of the normal. (5) During the last 
two years, the world's tonnage of merchant ships has decreased 
constantly, because of destruction in war and particularly by the 
use of the submarine within the war zones. Since the demand 
for ships is greater than usual, and the supply of vessels is below 
normal, it is necessary to use all merchant ships on the shortest 
routes possible; they cannot be spared for long voyages simply 
because they have no time for long trips. On this account, our 
European allies and the neutral nations of Europe have been obliged 
to depend largely upon their own continent and North America for 
their supply of meat, wheat, sugar, wool, and those other things 
necessary for the conduct of the war, and for keeping the allied 
troops in good condition. (6) Another element of the war problem 
is the extraordinary rise of prices since 19 14. The dollar of that 
year is now worth only about 50 cents when it is used in buying 
the necessities of life.^ 

1 The problem of the rise of prices due to the depreciation of the dollar 
is one of the most important that our national government has to face. 
As it is one of extraordinary difficulty, little has been attempted yet. 
In America prices of certain commodities, notably foodstuffs and 
wool, have risen more than most other prices. This has been due to 
unusual scarcity of those commodities. Prices on the continent of 
Europe are very high indeed compared with pre-war prices. The 



THE CLOTHING PROBLEM 5 1 

It can be seen from this brief summary of conditions that if 
only certain commodities can be used by the troops at the front, 
and if those commodities are very scarce in quantity and high in 
price both in Europe and America, and the total supply of them 
must be secured in America to make up the deficiency in Europe, 
there cannot be a very large amount left in America for those of 
us who stay at home. It naturally follows that we must either 
find substitutes or we must go without. Since it is possible in 
almost all cases to find substitutes which are fairly satisfactory 
for us, but which cannot be transported long distances, patriotism 
requires that we use these substitutes in order that our own boys in 
Europe, and the allied troops that are fighting our battles for us, 
shall not be forced to go without the food and clothing which they 
need. 

The Shortage of Cotton and Wool 

The two fabrics most used for clothing are cotton and wool. 
They are the staples for clothing, and under ordinary conditions 
there would be enough to supply the market at home as well as 
abroad, but the conditions mentioned above that hamper produc- 
tion have had their effect in America. The American cotton 
CROP for the year igiy was the third poor crop in succession, and it 
was the poorest of the three, so poor in fact that, with the drought 
in August, 191 8, and another short crop this year, a world famine 
in cotton is probable. Although nearly fifteen million bales of 
cotton were produced in 19 14, four years later the crop totaled 
less than eleven million bales. After the war broke out, our ex- 
ports of cotton to Europe fell off greatly and therefore less land 
was planted to that crop. Later, the demand and the acreage 
came back to the average; but the lack of fertilizer, particularly 
of potash due to the blockade of Germany, and shortage of labor 
in the South caused by the migration of negroes to northern in- 
dustrial centers, added to bad weather conditions and plant diseases, 
have made it impossible to raise a normal supply. 

chief cause of this is the scarcity of necessities in those countries, but 
general high prices in France and Germany have been due also to the issue 
of $5,000,000,000 of bank notes in the first country, and four-fifths 
as much in the second. 



52 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

On the other'hand the demand for cotton is greater than ever before. 
It is used in the manufacture of explosives. It is used to a greater 
extent than formerly in cloth because of the shortage of wool. 
With a reduced supply of cotton and an increased demand for it, 
the United States must find ways (i) to increase the supply of 
cotton that is raised, and (2) to conserve it in every possible way 
so that it will be available for the most important uses. The 
success of the second means of increasing the supply of cotton 
will depend upon the cooperation of the people of America, and 
every man, woman and child shotdd be enlisted in this conservation 
project. 

The world's supply of wool since the outbreak of the Great War 
has been reduced by conditions somewhat similar to those which 
have limited the world's supply of cotton. Within the war belt 
in Europe the number of sheep has been reduced to less than one- 
third what it was before 19 14. This is, of course, the result of 
several causes, among which are the lack of proper pasturage for 
the sheep, the constant demand for food, including mutton, and 
the failure of the people to take proper care of their flocks because 
the men were at the front. The supply of wool in the United 
States has also decreased considerably. The number of American 
sheep in 1910 was 57,500,000, but in 1916 it was estimated to be 
less than 49,000,000. The amount of wool produced fell from 
328,000,000 pounds in 1910 to 288,000,000 in 1916, and in spite 
of all precautions, it is being reduced somewhat every year. In 
the three years preceding the entrance of the United States into 
the war, we imported for our own use very much larger quantities 
of foreign wools than we had formerly imported. We cannot 
continue to do this (i) because the world's supply of wool outside 
of the United States is considerably less to-day than it was before 
1914, and (2) because ships can no longer be spared to bring even 
wool and wheat from Australia to either America or Europe.^ 

1 First of all, A ustralia has not enough ships to continue her trade 
even with the mother country. Secondly, even if Australia were able 
to ship us consignments of wool, the country must comply with Eng- 
land's demand that all wool grown and worn in the British Empire 
be conserved for England and her allies. The other great source is 
South America. The amount we can get there is not large enough, 



THE CLOTHING PROBLEM 53 

Experts estimate that we shall need 900,000,000 pounds of wool 
for the fighting forces of America. That will leave none at all for 
the rest of us. 

What was said about the increased demand for cotton is true of 
wool, but in greater degree. Although wool is not used, as is 
cotton, in the making of explosives, the soldier requires very much 
more for his clothing and his protection at night than the civilian 
in a heated house not exposed to the rigors of outdoor weather. 
The amount of wool material needed for a military outfit is greater 
than that for a civilian. Moreover, soldiers' clothing has to be re- 
newed at shorter intervals than civilians'. If the soldier is to be 
kept warm and dry and provided with all the uniforms, overcoats, 
and blankets which he will need (even if we do not count sweaters, 
socks, and wristlets), then we must be prepared to let him have at 
least three times as much wool as he would have needed before he 
entered the army, and five times as much as you or I ought to ask 
to have saved for us. 

Government authorities have tried time and again to induce 
the farmers to raise more wool, but without the desired results. 
An unusually severe winter with many sharp changes of weather 
caused heavy losses among the herds and also affected the quality 
of wool for 191 7. Feed has been high-priced and the temptation 
to reduce the flocks has consequently been great. Demand for 
meat has been so constant that many sheep have gone upon the 
market. Because of the migration of people to the West to settle 
upon public land, the sheep herders have been forced back from 
thousands of acres of government land which they formerly used 
for grazing. 

however, to supply our present needs. The clothing of the army is 
the great problem to-day. Where formerly an American soldier wore 
garments that were 100 per cent wool, the country is glad enough to-day 
if we can furnish him with clothes that are 80 per cent pure wool. 
"Wool" garments, even of the immediate future, need not be "all 
wool" ; in fact, they need not contain more than 20 per cent of wool. 

The scale of prices of to-day, compared with what it was in the pre- 
war period, is perhaps the best way of showing how scarce the product 
is. Although prices in general have risen only about 80 per cent since 
19 14, a yard of broadcloth 54 inches wide, which formerly cost $2.00 a 
yard, cannot now be bought for less than $4.50. 



54 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

Conservation Program for High School Students 

The shortage of cotton and wool makes it imperative that great 
effort be made immediately to reduce our present consumption in 
order to avoid actual famine in these materials which would result 
in great suffering, particularly in the colder portions of the country. 
Because of their comparative cheapness we have been accustomed 
to use cotton and wool carelessly. There are more than a million 
and a half high school students in the United States, who, because 
of their growth and activity, require a supply of clothing material 
greater than that required by a similar number of adults. Or- 
ganized effort^ on the part of high school students toward reducing 
the use of the present wool and cotton supply would result in a 
large saving of these fabrics. This is one of the high school student's 
best opportunities to "do his bit" for his country. Some effort 
has already been made. Girls in sewing classes have agreed to 
buy no new material for class work where suitable old material 
could be remade. Boys have been ready to adopt the wearing 
of corduroy trousers to save wool. But more definite and more 
earnest efforts must be made. 

The first important step is to make this yearns supply of clothing, 
so far as possible, from old material, thus making a smaller demand 
on the supply of wool and cotton for 191 8. Clubs should be or- 
ganized pledged to this patriotic duty. The remaking of old 
garments requires more forethought, knowledge, and skill than 
making garments from new material. Domestic art teachers and 
advanced domestic art students can arrange to give assistance at 
specified hours to those who are planning to remake old material. 
Valuable suggestions have been offered for using worn material 
to be used by these groups of students. ^ As many girls as possible 
should plan to serve as leaders in clothing conservation. They 
can prepare for the work through the courses in sewing and textiles 
offered in the high schools. If trade dressmaking is offered in 
addition, the preparation would be very satisfactory. These 
courses deal with the main, problems of garment making, judging 

1 See page 1 01. 



THE CLOTHING PROBLEM 55 

and buying materials, and selecting the style that will be suitable 
for the material used. 

Changing style in clothing is the chief cause of waste in clothing 
material. During the war at least, the United States should greatly 
reduce this waste. High school students can help win the war by 
agreeing not to discard perfectly good garments in order to make 
use of new styles. Furthermore, if, after utilizing old material as 
far as possible, high school students should adopt a simple style of 
clothing to be in vogue as long as the war lasts, they will help to 
conserve otir textile supplies still more. We do not need to appear 
shabbily dressed in order to make these savings, for we can save 
our better clothes for the times and places where they are most 
needed. However, if we replace our garments with new clothing 
simply because there has been a change in style, we shall use far 
more than our share of the supplies of cotton and wool, or of sub- 
stitutes for these articles. This will raise the prices for those who 
must buy some extra garments. Some students can hardly afford 
them now, and it will cause a further shortage of war necessities 
for our boys in the cantonments and at the front. Can we not do 
at least a quarter as much as the boys and girls of Italy, France, 
and Great Britain? 

REFERENCES 

New York Times, Dec. 29, 1917, Art. Rags; Jan. 6, 1918, Art. Wool 
and Cotton. 

Department of the Interior. Bureau of Education. Home Eco- 
nomics Teaching Under Present Economic Conditions. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Name and explain four elements of the food and clothing prob- 
lems, and show how they affect students particularly. 

2. Name some uses of cotton in time of peace and some additional 
uses in time of war. To what extent have we had normal crops of 
cotton since 1914 ? What were some of the war conditions which made 
the crop poorer than usual in the years 19 15-17 inclusive; in 191 8? 
How large was the 191 8 crop, and at what price per pound is cotton 
selling now ? 



56 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

3. Why has the world supply of wool been decreasing since the 
beginning of the century? If the United States produced in 191 8 
less than three hundred million pounds of wool and imported only 
as much as in 1917, that is, less than four hundred million pounds, how 
will the army get the nine hundred million pounds that they really 
need for the present year ? How much will be left over for the rest 
of us? 

4. Give all the uses you can which the soldiers find for wool. Can 
cotton be made a better substitute or a complete substitute? Can 
you name any other substitute beside cotton which is being used 
at the present time ? 

5. How do prices of cotton and woolen cloth compare with those of 
two years ago? of five years ago? If one can afford to buy woolen 
goods, why may she not continue to do that so long as she has money ? 
Why is the conservation of old clothing and dress goods possibly the 
most important patriotic duty for the girls to-day ? 

6. Give practical suggestions in regard to the saving of clothing 
and the making over of garments. If pressing clubs are organized 
in schools which have departments of domestic science, should not 
rooms or days be set aside for boys' clubs as well as those for girls? 
As a means of conserving clothing, is it not desirable to prevent com- 
petition among girls ? Will not the adoption of uniforms do this ? 



7. THE FOOD PROBLEM 
General 

Few of us know what it means to be hungry for any length of 
time. Practically none of us has suffered hunger for weeks and 
months. Yet during the last two years there has been a shortage 
of food in central and eastern Europe which has amounted, in northern 
Russia, in parts of Austria-Hungary, and in Germany, to a condition 
akin to famine. Food has been so scarce that it could not be bought 
at any price. In fact, in Germany, almost from the beginning of 
the war, there has been a lack of cereals, of animal fats and butter, 
and of most meats, which has forced the German government to 
conserve every particle of food and dole it out in small quantities 
only when absolutely needed. In France and Great Britain, the 
food situation was not serious until the beginning of the ruthless sub- 
marine war campaign in February, 1917. It is a well-known fact 
that before the war Great Britain had depended upon the outside 
world for the larger part of her food supply ; with that supply the 
subm.arine campaign naturally interfered. In France the difficulty 
has been due to the fact that an enemy holds the northeastern part 
of the country and that about half of the men who had been en- 
gaged in farming have been forced to leave their farms in order to 
help repel the enemy. The food shortage in both Great Britain 
and France has become serious. In England, for example, wheat 
restrictions are more severe than they were in America, even during 
the summer of 191 8. Sugar consumption is limited, as with us, to 
two pounds a month per person. No Englishman may buy more 
than eight ounces of bacon, or more than 42 cents' worth of 
fresh meat per week. Since Australia and Argentina cannot send 
Europe their surplus food supply because of lack of ships, it is 
absolutely necessary that we should export to the Allies all the food 
we can, and that we should select those articles, such as beef, pork, 

57 



58 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

animal fats, sugar, and wheat, which contain the largest amount of 
nourishment in small hulk, and which alone can he transported to them. 
It is generally believed that it is easier to shift production than 
it is to influence the dietary of people ; but we have been forced to 
f oUow the opposite plan because our government can tell us we cannot eat 
certain foods, and it cannot compel farmers to raise the foods most needed 
or the exact quantities most desired. In America our governments 
cannot tell farmer A to plant wheat, and farmer B to plant corn, 
and farmer C to raise sugar beets, and farmer D to raise beans, and 
farmer E to specialize on pigs, and so on, in order that we shall 
have enough persons at work producing the different commodities 
which we need as food. Since each farmer is allowed to plant what 
he pleases on the land which he owns or rents, in America the gov- 
ernment does not control food production. We do, however, control 
food consumption. Early in the war Mr. Herbert Hoover was ap- 
pointed national Food Administrator, and he is assisted by food 
administrators in every state, county, and city. Mr. Hoover has 
appealed to the patriotism of every man, woman, and child in the 
United States to help save those foods needed in Europe, because 
in that way he believes "food will win the war." 

The World's Food Shortage 

The Entente Allies have never tried to supply themselves with all of 
the meat that they have needed, but, before the war broke out, they 
did have a large number of cattle, sheep, and hogs upon which 
they depended in part for their supplies of food. On account of 
the extraordinary needs, particularly of the soldiers at the front, 
the temptation to kill these different animals for food has been 
unusual. When we add to this problem the difficulty in finding 
feed for the stock and the danger in some parts of the Continent 
from raids by the enemy, we can see why the number of sheep in 
the allied countries was reduced in three years by more than seven- 
teen million, and the number of cattle and hogs by about the same 
number. This loss in the number of farm animals has become 
more and more serious, because, in spite of this decrease, more 
animal food was needed in 191 7 than had been provided by the 
larger number three years earlier. 



THE FOOD PROBLEM 59 

Before the war we were in the habit of sending each year to 
Europe about 500,000,000 pounds of animal products and fats. 
That was only a little more than one pound for each person living 
in Europe at that time, or about as much as each of us consumed in 
two days. We can see that our ordinary exports, therefore, would 
not go very far towards supplying their needs. In 191 7, on the 
contrary, we exported more than three times as much as we had 
exported in 19 14 — an amount which would probably give ten 
pounds for each inhabitant of western Europe, including the soldiers 
who are fighting in the trenches. But ten pounds per soldier, added 
to the meat supplies of the Allied countries, is not nearly enough to 
keep the soldier in good condition, nor are ten additional pounds 
per inhabitant enough to maintain a decent food standard for the 
people who are not actually engaged in war. We must, therefore, 
if possible, increase greatly the amount of meat which is sent abroad. 
How are we going to do it ? In one of two ways : first, we must raise 
more animals; and, secondly, we must eat less meat than we have done. 

The wheat situation has been even more serious than the meat prob- 
lem. Although before the war France grew practically all of the 
wheat which she needed, no other country of Western Europe pro- 
duced enough wheat for its use. - Because of the war conditions, 
which have taken men to the front and have left many farms and 
many acres on other farms absolutely uncultivated, or cultivated 
under unfavorable conditions without proper tillage and fertilizer,, 
the wheat supply of Western Europe is less than two-thirds the 
amount which it would be in ordinary times. Before 1914 Great 
Britain alone annually imported 221,000,000 bushels of wheat,, 
and all other European countries (not counting territory now con- 
trolled by Germany) imported 305,000,000 bushels in addition. 
This year, therefore, the Allies must import enough to make up 
their own shortage, plus an amount equal to the supply regularly 
imported before the war broke out, plus a supply necessary because 
of special war needs. Even with continual saving in the warring 
countries, the total wheat needed for a single year amounts to at 
least 500,000,000 bushels for the Entente Allies, without counting 
neutrals. 

The problem of wheat may be taken to illustrate the problem of 



6o THE WAR AND AMERICA 

other crops, for example, sugar beets. Before the Great War the 
world's annual output of sugar was about twenty million tons, a 
little more than half of which was cane sugar raised in the tropics. 
The rest was beet sugar, about three-fifths of which was produced 
in Germany, Russia, and Austria. These supplies of beet sugar 
have fallen off greatly during the war, so that Western Europe ia 
now chiefly dependent upon cane sugar brought from other parts 
of the world. The United States, by far the largest consumer of 
sugar among all countries, has never raised more than one-fifth of 
its total supply of sugar; the balance has been imported from 
Cuba or other near-by countries. The situation at present is this : 
Western Europe is obliged to draw upon the West Indian islands for 
supplies of cane sugar because of shortage of ships necessary to bring 
any commodities from a considerable distance. In consequence, 
there is not nearly enough sugar for our allies and ourselves. 

The Problem of Increased Production 

Since we must send the Allies in large quantities wheat, meat 
— preferably fat meat — and sugar, the first question arises : how 
much of each shall we produce? Our food problem is acute, 
largely because we do not produce as many bushels of cereals, and as 
many pounds of meat, in proportion to the population, as we did a 
few years ago. In other words, our population is growing more 
rapidly than is our supply of food. In 191 o there was only 90 per 
cent as much land under cultivation in proportion to the population 
as there was at the beginning of the century. Our wheat produc- 
tion had dropped off 15 per cent per capita during those same ten 
years, and the production of corn had decreased 21 per cent per 
capita. We must take into account the fact that in the United 
States only g per cent of our cultivated land is devoted to wheat, and 
less than 75 per cent altogether to the production of foods which are 
consumed directly by man. Most of it is used for the purpose of 
growing feed for farm animals, who use in addition uncultivated 
areas on our farms and on the ranges. 

To raise meat of a certain nutritive value requires more land, 
cultivated as well as uncultivated, than it does to raise wheat of 
that same value as food. Consequently, the number of farm ani- 



THE FOOD PROBLEM 6 1 

mals in the United States is much smaller to-day than it was a 
quarter of a century ago compared with the population. For 
example, the number of cattle and pigs in 1910 was hardly any 
larger than it was in 1900, in spite of the great increase in the num- 
ber of people, and the number of sheep per capita decreased 48 per 
cent during the first 15 years of this century. In California in 1880 
there were 5,727,000 sheep, but in 191 5 there were only a third as 
many, that is, i ,900,000. We can understand from these figures why 
mutton is more expensive than it was a few years ago, and why there 
is even now a decided shortage in the supplies of wool. 

Farmers are being encouraged by experts to have flocks of sheep 
on practically every abandoned hillside, as well as to increase the 
number of sheep kept on the average farm. It is possible for at least 
a quarter of the farms in the United States to keep four or five more 
sheep each without difficulty. These experts are also urging subur- 
ban dwellers to "keep a pig," fed from the garbage of the kitchen 
and the waste material of the grounds. They are recommending 
that the farmers of the United States pay particular attention to the 
raising of pigs. There are at least four good reasons for this last re- 
quest, (i) Pork and hog fats have formed part of the diet of Euro- 
pean peoples for generations. (2) People exposed to hardships, 
or engaged in strenuous work, such as may be necessary at any time 
at the front, need animal fats more than any other food. (3) The 
nimiber of oiu* pigs can be increased far more easily and quickly 
than can the number of sheep or cattle. (4) A large percentage of 
the food of pigs is made up of articles that otherwise would be 
wasted. To be sure, a fairly large percentage consists of grain 
such as com. Although our supply of corn this year is abundant 
it may not be so abundant next year. The government has sought 
to encoiirage the production of pork by fixing prices for pork, and 
by its general policy of protecting producers against profiteers. 

From nearly every kitchen the table scraps, if supplemented 
with a small amount of grain and fed to chickens, would furnish 
an Qgg a day for each member of the family. However, chickens 
must have succulence. Lawn clippings can, to a great extent, supply 
this need. A few rabbits may be raised without great expense to 
supply some of the meat which now comes from other sources. 



62 THE WAR AND AMERICA 



The Problem of Food Saving 

All authorities agree that animal fats in large quantities are in- 
dispensable for persons engaged in hard work or subjected to un- 
usual hardships. If the fighters in the trenches are to make good, 
we must keep up their supply of fats. It is absolutely necessary 
that the American people should send to Europe a very much 
larger amount of pork, bacon, lard, and other foods containing 
animal fat. We cannot depend solely on raising more food ani- 
mals; we must SAVE, and then we must try again and save more. 
It is an amazing fact that in the United States of America, in spite 
of high prices of meat, the average per capita consumption of meat 
in a single year has been more than 170 pounds.^ That is, prac- 
tically every man, woman, and child has been in the habit of eating 
nearly a half pound of meat per day. It is highly desirable that 
we should reduce that quantity because it is unhealthful. Of 
course, a large part of our meat supplies has been wasted, and we 
shall no longer permit waste,^ but if we were to eat only two-thirds 
as much as we did eat, and if we were to save all that before was 
wasted, we should be able every year to send to Europe, or save for 
our boys in our own cantormients, an amount equal to at least 
2,000,000 tons, or practically as much as the total supply of meat 
imported by Europe before 19 14. At the same time we would 
have given ourselves a more healthful diet than we had before. 

One of the ways in which we can really help is by eating meat not 
oftener than once a day and by eating no meat whatever on the days set 
aside by the Food Administration as meatless days. On any meatless 
day and, to considerable extent, on other days, we can get our 
supply of flesh food by eating fish, other forms of sea food, and 

^ The total consumption of meat per capita in the United States 
has always been about twice as large as that in European countries. 
It was 170 pounds per year in America, compared with 118 pounds in 
Great Britain, in pounds in Germany, 79 pounds in France, 70 pounds 
in Belgium and Holland, 64 pounds in Austria-Hungary, and 50 pounds 
in Russia. 

2 The extraordinary consumption of meat in America is due largely 
to waste in homes, but more especially in public eating places by serving 
large portions of meat which will not be eaten by one individual, but 
which cannot then be served again. 



THE FOOD PROBLEM 63 

occasionally chicken or rabbit. Many people do not see why we 
cannot have meat ourselves and send these other articles to the 
front, but it is exceedingly difficult to keep fish and small animals 
for transportation to a distance, and they occupy far more space, 
which is limited and therefore valuable, than does meat of the same 
weight and nourishment. We can see, therefore, that it is a patriotic 
duty to use less meat and to find proper substitutes. We must 
always keep clearly in mind the fact that for ourselves, at least for the 
present, there is a sufficient amount of food. We are not asked to starve 
or to eat less than we need. We are asked, however, to save and keep 
on saving foods that are scarce, if those foods are needed in Europe, 
or by our troops. Surely, Uncle Sam can depend on us to do our 
part. At least we shall not be numbered among those thoughtless 
or vicious pro-Germans who stock up with war foods the day before 
the meatless or wheatless day, and thus, underhandedly, defeat 
the whole scheme, so far as it lies in their power. Nor shall we be 
among those unpatriotic persons who hoard foods needed in Europe 
or evade food regulations. 

Meat is an impoHant food chiefly because of the protein it contains. 
Protein is the foodstuff that is used by the body to build new tissue 
during growth and to repair body tissues in the adult. About 
20 per cent, or one-fifth, of lean meat is protein. All flesh of ani- 
mals, including fish, contains about the same amount of protein 
but the amount of fat and water present varies. Milk, eggs, 
fish, cheese, beans, peas, and peanuts are in the same class with meat 
as sources of protein. Any dish made from any one or a combination 
of these foods is a true substitute for meat, and any dish in which 
a small amount of meat is made to go a long way may be regarded 
as a meat substitute. 

We cannot export 300,000,000 or 400,000,000 bushels of wheat 
this year even from our 191 8 bumper crop, unless we make our 
wheat supplies go farther than they have ever done before, except 
during the months of wheat shortage last summer. 

To a great many people, it has seemed as though they were asked 
to make too great a sacrifice. We wonder why Europeans can't 
use more corn, or at least some other cereal, but the reason is this : 
m Europe bread is baked very little in the homes of the people, and 



64 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

bread for the soldier must be baked a long distance from the front. 
They must have, therefore, for their bread, flour which will make a loaf 
that will HOLD TOGETHER, wMch is TRANSPORTABLE at least a few 
miles, and which will keep. For these reasons it is impossible for 
them to use corn bread and it is equally impossible for them to use 
a large amount of corn in their bread. More than this, we cannot 
ship ground corn to Europe, because ground corn will not keep very 
well and ground corn will not stand the ocean voyage. We cannot 
ship corn in any other way, because there are no mills for the grind- 
ing of corn except in Italy and possibly southern France. For all 
these reasons it is impossible for the allies to make very much use 
of our large supply of corn. 

The Food Administration has organized us into a great body of 
savers, but in addition it has adopted practical methods which 
make it possible for all to help. It has licensed all bakers, except- 
ing those who do a very small business, and it has compelled them 
to make use of new bread formulas, the flour of which is not more 
than 80 per cent fine wheat flour. We cannot go on reducing 
indefinitely the amount of wheat in a loaf of bread, for, unless it is 
at least two-thirds wheat or rye, it will not hold together and will 
not, therefore, be bread at all. Consequently, we must do two 
things. We must eat less bread, even though that bread is not 
made entirely of wheat, and we must substitute other cereals 
for the bread and the flour pastries which we formerly enjoyed. 

It is reported on good authority that the people of the Southern' 
states consume almost as much of other cereals as they do of wheat ; 
whereas five-sixths of the cereal food eaten by the people of the 
North is some form of wheat flour. Certainly it is possible for us 
to substitute enough oatmeal, corn meal, corn gems, barley cakes, 
and rye bread so that we can save for use in Europe all that her 
people will need. 

When we realize that the troops of France and Belgium are, in a 
great many cases, not strong and healthy men, because almost 
every Frenchman and every Belgian who can shoulder a rifle has 
been called to the front, we ought to be glad to make a few sacrifices 
on their behalf. Think of the French women who are doing men's 
work, who toil with hoes, who follow plows in the fields ! Are we 



THE FOOD PROBLEM 65 

willing to eat bread, if it means that they will be obliged to go with- 
out the nourishing food which they need ? Send them more wheat 
and more meat; our chivalry will let us do no less. To the homeless 
refugees of Europe, dependent to a large extent upon the bounty 
of the richest, and let us hope the most generous, nation in the 
world, we say, "Here, we have wheat, we have meat. It is yours, 
we give it gladly." 

The Schools and Food Production 

There is a shortage of foods needed by Europe and suitable 
for transportation to Europe; there is also a shortage of workers 
in the fields. The schools can help solve the labor problem and to 
some extent the whole problem of food production in two ways : (i) they 
can supply within their own communities some of the agricultural 
labor of which there will probably be a decided shortage, and 
(2) they can prepare themselves as skilled agricultiu-ists for a more 
advanced type of farm work or food production. In California 
nearly 40,000 high school boys and girls were employed last sum- 
mer during a considerable part of the vacation, and about half of 
these were boys or "farmerettes" who worked on farms at tasks 
connected with the production of food. It has been suggested that 
the schools might send out boys to help the farmers during the busy 
seasons, even when school is in session. If they are in groups under 
the supervision of reliable teachers, they might prove a very great 
help as workers. It is'possible that some plan may be developed by 
which groups of boys can be assigned for half of a school day 1 to 
some work requiring only a little technical knowledge, for which 
they have been especially prepared by some agricultural teacher. 
A number of schools are following out the suggestion of state authori- 
ties and are offering half-year introductory courses which will prepare 
boys to understand the more necessary work required of a helper in 
the fields. 

Some students, of course, take a great many courses in agricul- 
ture, specializing on different branches of food production. Possibly 
some of the more dependable boys can be leaders and teachers of 
younger or less experienced students. If so, they can be placed 
in charge of squads of other boys. They may be engaged at regu- 



66 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

lar wages by farmers or they may be able to utilize land which 
they can plant themselves, if necessary under the direction of a 
regular agricultural teacher or expert. Some of them can do even 
more by cultivating intensively, possibly in, as well as out of school 
hours, a plat of ground of their own. During the last few years boy 
farmers in a large number of American states have gained for themselves 
noteworthy reputations because of their production of grains or vege- 
tables on very small plats. 

Some schools are taking up, either on their own initiative or under 
the provisions of the Smith-Hughes Bill, plats of land located near the 
school buildings, on which crops are raised by intensive cultivation. 
The back-yard gardens are exceedingly valuable as an additional 
means of keeping the family or the community supplied with neces- 
sary foods, especially if they are managed by industrious high school 
students who have studied that problem. Boards of education 
may help by taking up plats of ground and encouraging students 
during school hours to raise crops which the people need and for 
which those particular groups of students are fitted. 

The problem of food production is one of very great difficulty 
because of our American system of leaving the work almost entirely 
to individual initiative. On that account it is necessary for the 
schools as well as the pupils to plan carefully, to undertake that 
work for which they are best adapted, and to work on this question 
as one of the most pressing and serious of all war problems. If food 
is to win the war — and its share in victory will undoubtedly be great — 
then the schools must do a far greater work than they have done in the 
past. Whether we as high school pupils have done much or little 
toward increasing the supply of food, can we not do more to help 
in this great work for home and country ? 

The High School and the Food Conservation Program 
The success of the Food Conservation program will depend on the 
ability of the people to choose food wisely and make necessary 
substitutions properly. Unintelligent choice of food in times of 
peace is believed to be responsible for a large percentage of illness 
and inefficiency in school and adult life. Unintelligent choice will 
produce graver results when choice in food is limited and substitu- 



THE FOOD PROBLEM 67 

tions have to be made. Under present conditions it is a patriotic 
duty and a duty to one's self to learn and apply the fundamental 
principles of food and nutrition. The government is sending out 
leaflets and pamphlets for this purpose. High schools already offer 
courses in foods and cookery that should be available to every 
student. Short courses in the choice of foods may be offered if 
time or equipment do not allow a laboratory course in cooking. 
The high school student bodies or similar groups should pledge 
themselves to carry out the recommendation of the Food Adminis- 
tration as far as possible. A campaign on the part of high school 
students for a better understanding of the food problem, better choice 
of foods, and whole-hearted cooperation with the United States Food 
Administration, is the greatest immediate patriotic service open to high 
school students. 

No one ever made an appeal to a true American to do his share 
and found him in spirit, at least, unwilling. The question arises 
how far are we falling short of the standard which Uncle Sam 
demands of us ? Have you stopped to think what happens to a 
soldier if he does not obey ? A soldier, of course, rarely or seldom 
fails, but what about ourselves? If we fail to do what the Food 
Administration asks us to do, is there any reason why we should 
be treated very much more leniently than the soldier who is our 
representative at the front? Moreover, there are only two ways 
in which this problem can be solved. The first is by concerted 
VOLUNTARY EFFORT of all the people of the United States. The 
second is by compulsion. Compulsion is the method which has 
been used in Prussia; it is the German way. Shall we thus 
copy one of the hateful forms of Prussianism ? As there is no doubt 
of our patriotism, can there be any question that we will help every 
day, and in every possible way ! 

REFERENCES 

United States Food Administration, Ten Lessons on Food Con- 
servation; Bulletins Nos. 6, 7, and 10. 

Hunt and Atwater, How to Select Foods, Farmers' Bulletin 808. 

Hunt, Fresh Fruits and Vegetables as Conserves of Other Staple Foods, 
Farmers' Bulletin 871. 



68 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

Kellogg and Vernon, The Food Problem. 

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 

Nov., 1917, part II. 
Rose, Feeding the Family, pp. 162-183. 
Sherman, Food Products. 
Taylor, Wheat Needs of the World. 
United States Bureau of Education, Home Economics Teaching Under 

Present Economic Conditions. 
Hoover, H., "The National Geographic Magazine," XXXII, 187- 

212. 
United States Food Administration, War Time Food Problems, 

* ' Literary Digest ' ' (Weekly) . 
Best War Time Recipes. 
War Economy in Food. 

D. B. Houston, in "The Country Gentleman," Jan. 19, 1918, 3-4, 
42. 

E. Davenport, Wanted: A Food Production Program, in "The 
Country Gentleman," Jan. 26, 1918, lo-ii, 50-51. 

W. H. Schrader, in "The Pacific Rural Press," Dec. 29, 1917, 669, 

676-677. 
Annals of the American Academy of Pol. and Soc. Science, Nov., 1917. 

QUESTIONS 

1. To what extent has there been a shortage of food in France and 
Great Britain? Give at least four general reasons why that is the 
case. Name at least four foods which it may be possible for us to take 
to Western Europe, and explain why those should be selected. 

2. Why is there a real problem in the production of foods in America 
due to the lack of government control of production? What is the 
Food Administration? Who is head of it, and who is our local Food 
Administrator? What is meant by the Home Card? Give at least 
two provisions of your Home Card. Do you find any provision that 
you fail to observe ? 

3. Why is less meat produced in the United States than a few years 
ago ? What effect has the war had upon the European production or 
supplies of meat ? Compare the amount of meat used before the war 
by an American with that consumed by a person in Western Europe. 
Why is it desirable that we should have meat, and why is it wise to 
reduce our consumption of meat ? 

4. Give reasons why the Allies must import a large amount of wheat. 



THE FOOD PROBLEM 69 

Show that practically all of that must have come from North America. 
Why was it necessary before September i for us to use very small 
quantities of wheat and to have wheatless days and wheatless meals? 
Why is it less necessary to scrimp in our consumption of wheat since 
the first of September? 

5. Before the Great War what were the chief sources of the world's 
sugar supply? Upon which of those can we draw now, first because 
the sugar is produced, and secondly because it is near enough to be 
transported ? What are the sugar regulations enforced at the present 
time ? How much better off have we been in our supplies of sugar, 
wheat, and meat than the people of either France or England ? How 
can we reduce our consumption of sugar ? 

6. Why are our high schools the best possible institutions in which 
to organize food-saving societies and to study food conservation ? 
To what extent is it desirable that we should know the food values of 
different foods ? To what extent can the food situation be improved 
by topics studied in high school, by classes for housewives, by woman 
food administrators? Why must the American people depend upon 
voluntary cooperation? Name five things that each of us can do to 
help win the war by saving food. 

7. Has the war tended to increase or decrease the shortage of farm 
labor? To what extent have high school students helped to provide 
labor for their localities ? Suggest ways in which high school students 
can help the American people to get a larger supply of food. 



III. REORGANIZATION 
8. UNCLE SAM'S FIGHTING FORCES 

Raising an Army 

Since the sixth of April, 19 17, the United States has been at war 
with Germany. For more than two years and a half we had suc- 
ceeded, in spite of increasing difficulties, in remaining out of the 
great world contest. During that time we had let contracts for 
the building of naval vessels, we had prepared to increase the num- 
bers in our regular army, and had arranged that the national guard 
should be reorganized as an American army, if desired. Yet at 
the outbreak of the war there were only about 300,000 regulars and 
national guardsmen in the whole United States. Very little had 
been done to prepare the War Department or the Navy Depart- 
ment for real trouble, or to organize war councils and other branches 
of the government which make the American people an effective 
fighting force. 

The American problem is stated in these words by President 
Wilson : "7/ is not an army we must shape and train for war; it is a 
NATION." In this lesson and the next it will not be possible, how- 
ever, to treat of the preparation of the nation, but some phases of 
that work have been considered in earlier articles. In fact, about 
all that we can do is to call attention briefly to the work accom- 
plished in the creation of an army and navy. A little can be given 
on war reorganization also. The first problem in April, 191 7, was 
to decide how a citizen army should be raised. Since ancient times 
military service has been a privilege as well as a duty of all adult 
able-bodied male citizens. There was the choice of two systems, 
one of which provided for voluntary enlistments, the other made use 
of the draft. To secure soldiers who should represent America 
abroad, the draft or selective service seemed fair and more demo- 
cratic because it gives every man of draft age, without fear 

70 



UNCLE SAM'S FIGHTING FORCES 71 

or favor, an equal opportunity to serve his country. Since this 
national army was to be made up chiefly of infantry, it also was 
fair that, until the draft went into effect, young men should be 
allowed voluntarily to enlist in any service for which they had 
preference. Thousands volunteered for the aviation service, other 
thousands for ambulance corps work, and hundreds of thousands 
enlisted in the infantry service of the regular army or the national 
guard, which was being reorganized as a part of the national serv- 
ice. In addition, there were large numbers who entered the 
cavalry or the artillery service, joined the signal corps, or became 
identified with some other branch of the American army or navy. 

A much larger number of soldiers are secured through the selective 
draft than in any other way. The first selective draft law was 
passed by Congress on May 18, 191 7. It provided for the regis- 
tration on June 5 of that year of all men between the ages 2 1 to 30, 
inclusive. In each voting precinct throughout the United States 
the enrollment took place on that day, a total of 9,780,685 men 
registering, of whom 1,275,902 were aliens and therefore not sub- 
ject to military service in America. 

These men were divided into five classes according to occupation 
or the number of their dependents. From Class I, chiefly single 
men without dependent relatives or married men whose families 
did not depend on their regular earnings for support, the first 
national army was organized. By the first of September, 19 1 8, 
considerably more than two millions were enrolled in service. 
With the regulars and national guardsmen, they made an army of 
more than three millions, a million and a half of whom were in 
France. 

At that time all distinctions between the different branches of 
the army were abolished, and at the same time our forces in France, 
which had been organized with French or British troops, were 
created into a separate army. To win the war quickly, a much 
larger number was necessary. To give us an army of more than 
five million soldiers, of whom four million can be sent to France by 
next July, on August 31 Congress passed the Second Selective 
Service Act, including all men from eighteen to forty-five inclusive, 
who were registered September 12. Most of the fighters from these 



72 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

will come of course from the men under twenty-one, practically 
all of whom belong to Class I, whereas most of the men thirty- two 
or over are heads of families needed for the support of their depend- 
ents. These men in deferred classes must be engaged in essential 
industries and are treated as "slackers" if they are not at work. 
In spite of high prices, heavy taxes, and other real hardships these 
men are going forward, working hard and cheerfully, with deter- 
mination to help win the war. The men selected by lot to wear 
the American uniform and fight the battles of democracy and 
civilization are first sent to training camps or cantonments. Special 
camps are located near many cities and towns, but the largest 
groups are in the thirty-two cantonments scattered throughout 
the country. 

The Army Cantonment 

The building of these cities, for the cantonments are practically 
that, was accomplished during the summer and early fall of 19 17, 
certainly a remarkable feat in itself. The buildings are of wood 
and two stories in height. In order to hasten construction, the 
tens of thousands of doors and windows were made in standard 
sizes, were constructed in mills throughout the country, and were 
fitted into place with slight delay. The total cost of the canton- 
ments was ^15,000,000 less than the original estimated cost, another 
real achievement. So far as the topography of the ground in any 
particular camp permits, camps are in the shape of the letter U and 
consist of a long street of that shape, on either side of which are 
barracks for the soldiers, except at the center, where the officers' 
camps and quarters are located. Running off from the main 
U-shaped street are short, broad avenues which separate the 
quarters of the different battalions and regiments from each other. 
In the rear of the barracks are accommodations for bathing and 
for the supplies of the particular group. Wherever possible, a 
railroad or at least a spur comes close to the buildings occupied 
by the quartermaster and others having charge of the general 
supplies for the cantonment. In each of these cities there are 
about 45,000 men, besides officers. Since the men are to serve 
with troops of the Allies in Europe, they are organized on a plan 



UNCLE SAM'S FIGHTING FORCES 73 

similar to the European model rather than on that of the American 
army before the Great War. In the infantry two hundred and 
fifty men form a company, which has a captain and five lieutenants, 
as well as non-commissioned officers for each squad. The infantry 
battalion consists of four companies and includes twenty-six officers 
and a thousand men, but the battalions of some other branches of 
the army include a smaller ntmiber of companies, and in some cases, 
for example, the Signal Corps, as few as two hundred forty-eight 
men. The regiment consists of several battalions of ' infantry, 
besides supply and machine gun companies. Each is commanded 
by an officer with the rank of colonel. An infantry regiment in- 
cludes one hundred three officers and three thousand six hundred 
and fifty-two men. Most other regiments number less than one-_ 
half as many. 

The men of the national army, that is, those who are recruited 
under the selective service law, are said to form, potentially, the 
finest army in the world. In the very beginning there were not 
clothes enough to go round, first, because there were more men 
than the quartermaster's corps had expected, and secondly, be- 
cause the men were too big. In other words, there was a surplus 
of small suits and a scarcity of those in larger sizes. The men are 
kept busy most of the time from the reveille in the morning until 
taps demand that lights be out at night. Even if they are not 
obliged to carry their regular equipment of 68 pounds of "impedi- 
menta," they do a full day's work. Meals are served at 6.15 a.m., 
noon, and 6 p.m.^ The food is well-cooked, abundant, and sub- 
stantial. Meat or fish is served two or even three times a day, but 
pastry seldom finds its way to the mess table. 

1 The following table gives some idea of a day in a cantonment. 
Reveille : 



First Call . . . 


5 


45 A. 


M. 


Drill — Assembly . i : 00 P. M. 


March . . . . 


5 


55 




Recall from Drill . 4:30 " 


Assembly . . . 


6 


00 




Retreat — First Call 5:15 " 


Mess 


6 


15 




Assembly . . . . 5 : 25 " 


Drill — First Call . 


6 


50 




Retreat ". . . . 5 : 30 " 


Drill — Assembly . 


7 


00 




Mess .... Immediately 


Sick 


7 


00 




after Retreat 


Recall from Drill . 


II 


30 " 


Tattoo 9 : 00 p. M. 


Mess 


12 


00 Noon 


Call to Quarters . 10 : 45 " 


Drill - First Call . 


12 


50 p. 


M. 


Taps II :oo " 



74 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

In constructing the cantonments particular care was taken to 
see that each was placed on ground which was properly drained, 
and complete systems of water supply and of sewage were installed. 
The death rate, which in the soldier camps of the Spanish- American 
War was over twenty per thousand, that is, slightly higher than in 
an ordinary city with people of all ages, is now much lower, being 
only about eight per thousand. Some complaint was made last 
fall that not enough attention was paid to the health of the troops 
and that there were too few nurses to look after those who were in 
hospital, of which each camp has one, but much has been done to 
raise the health standard in all cantonments. Associated with 
each camp are quarters where the men can meet their friends or 
secure books and magazines. The Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., K. C, 
and charity organizations have headquarters where books or maga- 
zines abound, amusements are offered, and the boys are made to 
feel at home. Especially at the hostesses' houses are men in uniform 
made welcome. Many additional religious, fraternal, and women's 
organizations are active in welfare work among the soldiers and 
sailors. To protect the boys on furlough, the sale of liquor near 
the cantonments has been restricted. In every possible way 
precautions are taken to safeguard the health and morals of the 
boys in camp. In all training camps, that is, in the army canton- 
ments or in any of the scores of smaller camps and bases, the routine 
drill and preparation keep the men fit and are making them into 
true soldiers. An attempt is made to give them practice and ex- 
perience, under British and French experts recently from the field 
of battle, similar to the work which they will be called upon to do 
at the front. For example, there are trenches which must be de- 
fended and stormed by opposing parties. 

Aviation and Naval Services — Officers 
A branch of our army on which the American people are count- 
ing especially is the aviation service. More than a year ago Con- 
gress appropriated ^640,000,000 for the construction of airplanes 
for use in the war. Under the direction of very competent motor 
engineers within less than a month a new light engine was developed 
for this work. This Liberty Motor embodies the best and the 



UNCLE SAM'S FIGHTING FORCES 75 

simplest of all existing motor mechanisms, and although it weighs 
a hundred and fifty pounds less than the best French or English 
airplane motor, it will develop considerably greater horsepower. 
The airplanes first constructed under the immense appropriation 
of Congress were used almost exclusively for the training of student 
aviators, but some of them will be used for war work. At twenty- 
four training stations the students are being taught the rudiments 
of aviation and at nine grounds they receive their first instruction. 
The construction of battle planes did not go forward so rapidly, 
partly because auto factories could not be turned at once into first- 
class airplane factories, but in August, 19 18, more than a thousand 
fighting planes were sent to France. With the construction in 
large numbers of such airplanes for combat or bombing, we are 
hoping to overwhelm the Germans and "win the war in the air." 
Aviation must be highly coordinated with the artillery and the infantry. 
It is used in watching the enemy's movements, in directing fire 
from hidden batteries, in fighting enemy planes that are trying to 
do the same thing, and in dropping bombs on the enemy's forces. 
It is hoped that the American people will be able to develop air 
fighting more fully and more effectively than the competent and 
efficient airplane forces of European belligerents. 

A new navy could not be created nearly so rapidly as a new army 
could be organized. However, there are already fotir times as 
many naval vessels in commission as there were in April, 1917. At 
the outbreak of the Great War in 19 14, the American navy was the 
third largest in the world, being exceeded only by those of Great 
Britain and Germany. It is impossible of course to make an exact 
comparison with others at the present time, but certainly very much 
has been done within the last four years, and particularly during 
the last year, to speed up the construction of war vessels of all kinds. 
Ten new battleships, six battle cruisers, fifty torpedo boat destroyers, 
and more than joo submarine chasers, not to mention numerous other 
naval vessels, have been authorized and are under construction 
at the present time. At the date of our declaration of war, the 
enlisted strength of the navy was limited to 87,000 men, and there 
were not nearly so many as that actually in service. The number 
in the navy increased during 19 17 to 150,000, and early in 19 18 



76 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

there were nearly 300,000 in the different branches of naval serv- 
ice. These figures include the marines, who are war soldiers, and 
the naval reserves, of whom a large number have been enrolled 
in practically all of the states which have sea coasts. The sub- 
marine service, the naval flying corps, and several other branches 
of naval service are also included. One notable work that the 
navy has done is to convoy fleets of transports to France, practi- 
cally without loss of life. A single fleet last summer carried more 
soldiers than were in our army at the outbreak of the Great War. 

The soldiers in service receive ^jj a month, and the seamen a 
somewhat similar wage. If a man in service is married, Uncle 
Sam sends approximately half of his pay to the wife. Additional 
simis are paid monthly for the support of the wives and children of 
all soldiers or sailors. The national government has appropriated 
a large amount in order that the men may insure their lives against 
accident or death. Since no regular insurance company would 
consider a soldier or sailor a good risk, provision is made by the 
government that they can insure their lives for not less than ^1000, 
nor more than ^10,000, at rates less than those which would be 
charged by regular insurance companies for ordinary citizens in 
good health in times of peace. In addition. Uncle Sam will pay 
definite sums to soldiers or sailors who are injured in the govern- 
ment service. The sum varies, however, with the number of 
persons who are dependent upon the injured patriot. In case of 
death or total disability, a sum varying from $25 to a widow alone, or 
$57-50 to a wife and three or more children, is given monthly as com- 
pensation, not as a pension. 

In a democracy leaders usually rise from the ranks, but a de- 
mocracy fears nothing more than a dictatorship. In a govern- 
ment of the people leadership does not always have the attention 
it deserves. Yet it stands to reason that in order to be efficient, 
a well-organized army must be intelligently led. For many years 
we have had a large number of schools or colleges in which the chief 
or sole work is the business of training officers. Of course the most 
famous and important of these are West Point Military Academy 
and the Naval Academy at Annapolis. As the number of officers 
carefully trained in these schools and colleges was not nearly enough 



UNCLE SAM'S FIGHTING FORCES 77 

to provide our military and naval forces of nearly 2,000,000 men 
with the officers that they needed, it was necessary at the outbreak 
of the war to start schools or camps for the preparation of additional 
officers. There were nearly 200,000 applicants for training in the 
first of these officers' training camps, but only 40,000 were selected 
on May 15, 1917. A second series of camps on the same sites was 
opened in August with 20,000 men, and a third series with a slightly 
smaller number in January, 19 18. The graduates of these camps 
have been highly commended by army officers. Many of them 
are now in charge of units of the national army. That they and 
the other soldiers of our citizen arnly will give a good account of 
themselves on the battle front is the opinion of those who are 
competent to judge. More than four hundred colleges are now 
being used to decide who will be good officers for our new army. 
These colleges will also give short courses to many young soldiers who 
are good material for further training as officers. In creating a 
fighting force, we may have made haste slowly, but our govern- 
ment has accomplished well a seemingly impossible task. 

REFERENCES 

Hungerford, E., in Everybody' s Magazine, 37 (1917), 23-29. 
Carpenter, Frank E., Syndicated article published Sunday, March 

3, 1918. 
Fox, E. L., in Forum, 58 (1917), 461-470, 637-648, 
Survey, 38 (1917), 3, 273, 349, 376; 39 (1917), 88-93. 
Menkel, W., in Review of Reviews, 56 (1917), 58-62. 
Qist Division National Army, Camp Lewis. 
National Service Handbook, 111-197. 
The American Year Book, 1917, 285-298. 
The (191 8) World Almanac and Encyclopedia, 156—288. 
Showatter, Fortesque, National Geographic Magazine, 332 (1917), 

421-476. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How large was the American army when the war broke out? 
How large is it to-day ? Have you any idea how many men volunteered 
for the army ? 

2. The first draft law was passed at what time? It provided for 



78 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

the registration of men between what ages ? Of those men how many 
have been organized in service ? 

3. The second draft law was passed at what time? It included 
men between what ages ? How did the number of soldiers under 2 1 , 
provided by the second law, compare with those under the first law 
above 21 ? Why did the large number of men over 32 furnish com- 
paratively few soldiers ? 

4. Into how many classes of selected service are the men from 18 
to 45 classified? Who belongs in Class I? Should men of the age 
and condition most suitable for soldiers be left in deferred classes if 
they are needed? If they have financial dependents, who will carry 
the burden of their family's support, if their country must send them 
to Europe ? 

5. What is an army cantonment like? Outline an ordinary day 
in camp. How are troops organized into companies, battalions, 
regiments, divisions, corps, and armies ? What are unofficial organi- 
zations doing for the benefit or pleasure of the man in camp ? 

6. What is the difference between a training airplane and one used 
at the front? Name some of the uses made of airplanes in France. 
Why is there hope that with the development of giant airplanes we may 
"win the war in the air" ? 

7. Has our navy been growing since the beginning of the war? 
What work has it done in transporting troops to France ; in destroying 
submarines ; in looking after European coasts ? 

8. What is the pay of an American soldier? How much of it does 
he, personally, get ? In case he is injured and is not insured, does he 
get any compensation? In case of his death what does his family 
receive? In addition to compensation how much might his family 
get through insurance ? 

9. Before the war where did we train our military and naval officers ? 
Where have we trained them since war opened ? To what extent are 
colleges being made preparatory and auxiliary training camps for 
officers? What qualities are possessed by our soldiers and officers 
which make them good fighters? Why can our officers not hope to 
compete in certain respects with those of France ? 



9. WAR REORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT 

New Bureaus and Boards — Work Accomplished 

The reorganization of the army has not been much more radical 
than the reorganization of the government. The President of the 
United States, by virtue of the Constitution, is Commander-in- 
Chief of the military and naval forces of the United States. He is 
•assisted by members of his cabinet, particularly by the Secretary 
of War and the Secretary of the Navy. In each of these depart- 
ments there are large numbers of bureaus, such as the Ordnance, 
Munitions, Quartermasters' Corps, Engineers' Corps, etc., which 
look after the different phases of war work. In the War Depart- 
ment there has been a great expansion since a year and a half ago. 
The Secretary of War has more responsible duties than he would 
in time of peace, and each of his assistants now is practically the 
head of a series of btireaus and activities which make him an officer 
almost as important as the Secretary of War in time of peace. 
There is also an Advisory Council of the War Department which 
has charge of important problems and which aids the secretary in 
deciding important questions. 

Besides these branches of the War Department and similar, if 
less numerous, branches of the Navy Department, there is a General 
Staff made up of officers of the Army assigned to that work and a 
General Board for the Navy. The chief of staff is in a sense the 
directing general of the military forces not actually engaged in 
the field. Other branches of the war organization include the 
Council of National Defense, practically a war board, made up of 
the Secretaries of War, Navy, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, 
and Labor. Its purpose is the "coordination of industries and 
resoiu-ces for the national welfare." It is aided by an Advisory 
Commission of able business men and by a very large number of 
committees and subcommittees. Important among its committees 

79 



8o THE WAR AND AMERICA 

is the War Industries Board. That board and some other organiza- 
tions aMiated with it aim to speed up industry, coordinate the 
work of different plants and companies, decide which goods shall 
take precedence in transportation within the United States and for 
export, and see that as much is produced as possible and with as 
little delay and waste as can be managed. Another committee 
deals with labor problems ; still another is designated the General 
Medical Board. The United States Employment Service of the De- 
partment of Labor has enlarged its work to a study of the labor 
supply of the United States with the idea not necessarily of mobiliz- 
ing labor, but of calling attention to special demands for workers in 
particular fields or industries and to arrange if possible for trans- 
portation of surplus labor to the field where it is needed. With 
the listing of many businesses as non-essential industries, there has 
arisen a very serious task to transfer millions of workers to "essen- 
tial industries," to those in which their help is especially necessary. 
During 1916 and 1917 a group of distinguished civilians with Thomas 
A. Edison as chairman, rendered valuable service as a Naval Consult- 
ing Board. The Committee on Public Information has done a worthy 
work in preparing, publishing, and distributing valuable pamphlets 
which have informed us about war problems and educated us to 
war needs. The Food Administration and Fuel Administration 
are examples of new nation-wide organizations. Federal control 
of railways has made necessary a new organization of transporta- 
tion. Almost all states have State Councils of Defense with nu- 
merous committees and branches. These are working hard on the 
special problems of their state and aiding the general government 
in every way in their power. In California the State Council has 
published valuable surveys of our oil fields and of the coast near 
San Francisco. These are only a very few of the new war organiza- 
tions and activities. 

In spite of red tape, the division of authority, and administrative 
inefficiency — some of which unfortunately have been characteristic 
of American administration in time past — the government at 
Washington has been able to carry through its new stupendous work 
of creating a national army, building cities for the housing of soldiers, 
providing equipment, clothing, and other necessaries, and preparing 



WAR REORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT 8 1 

airplanes, naval vessels, and munitions for a titanic conflict. To be 
sure, early investigations by a critical committee of the United 
States Senate disclosed certain shortcomings, namely, that there 
was some sickness in cantonments, that clothing had not been 
provided in sufficient quantities, that suitable rifles were lacking, 
and that the manufacture of machine guns had been delayed. 
Nevertheless, in spite of lack of coordination, a defect which of 
course cannot be removed in a short time, in spite of unnecessary 
delays, and some stupid mishandling of serious problems, our 
national government has accomplished a marvelous amount of 
valuable and serious work. No one can read the summary given by 
Mr. Baker, Secretary of War, before a Senate committee, nearly 
a year ago, without understanding better than before how great 
was the task undertaken by our government and how much more 
had been accomplished at that time than even most critics had 
thought possible. As Secretary Baker showed, the aim of the gov- 
ernment was to create an army, and not necessarily to wait for 
rifles or other equipment before beginning preliminary training of 
troops. Considering the fact that the government must have at 
its disposal shipping of several tons for every soldier sent to Europe, 
the Secretary's promise that early in 191 8 a half-million American 
soldiers would be giving a good account of themselves in France 
proves the remarkable achievement of the government. We all 
know what a glorious share our marines and soldiers had in driving 
the Hun from the Marne salient. We can hardly imagine what 
marvelous work will be done next year by several million Americans 
from our bases in Lorraine and elsewhere. 

New Concentration and Proposed Unification 

It has been suggested that reorganization and development have 
produced a new need not only for better coordination between old 
departments and new organizations, but for far more concentration 
of authority in the hands of one person or board. Germany cen- 
tralizes almost all authority in the hands of her General Staff, and 
particularly in the hands of the field marshal and quartermaster 
general. Great Britain has a large war cabinet made up of repre- 
sentatives from all parties, although the Liberals control a majority 

G 



82 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

of the members. The direction of war affairs is handled by a war 
CABINET consisting of the Premier, David Lloyd George, and five 
assistants, which has chief control of war problems from the gov- 
ernmental point of view. 

In addition,, Great Britain really has a board of directors made up 
of captains of industry who hold important positions in control of 
food, shipping, and industry. The British government has co- 
ordinated its different branches and has unified and centralized 
control to such an extent that all critics extol the fine business 
organization our British cousins have developed for the conduct of 
the war. 

In the United States we have been so busy creating an army and 
working out problems that the questions of coordination and con- 
centration have not yet been worked out fully. Unity of action 
is maintained largely through the war powers of the President and 
through the personal influence of President Wilson. In the work of 
coordination, the administration is hampered somewhat by the 
American system of government, which gives Congress the right 
to decide what organizations there shall be and what powers each 
shall have. It is impossible, except by direct authority from Con- 
gress or by the tacit permission of the law-making body, to create 
new divisions of any department or to develop very much more 
fully any departmental organization. The task of coordination, 
concentration, and unification is one of greatest difficulty, but it is 
highly necessary that the different bureaus and branches should work 
together as a single, effective, harmonious machine. It is absolutely 
necessary therefore that they should be reorganized in order to get far 
more effective results. 

In order to secure proper concentration and coordination. Congress 
passed the Overman bill, which during the period of the war concen- 
trates, in the hands of the President, authority to carry on any and all 
executive or administrative functions necessary for the prosecution of 
the war. It gives the President the right to modify, abolish, re- 
organize, and practically to create bureaus. It allows him to trans- 
fer the work of any official, bureau, or department to any other. 
In fact, it is expected to bring about absolute unification and concen- 
tration through granting the President practically dictatorial powers 



WAR REORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT 83 

of an administrative type. Coordination would be one of the means 
by which unification would be brought about. In order to win 
the war, it is undoubtedly necessary that many practices of our 
American governments, such as division of authority, which have 
delayed the making of laws and therefore have tended to safeguard 
rights of the individual citizen, must yield to the need of efficient 
action. As President Wilson wrote more than a quarter century 
ago in describing the highly concentrated and autocratic govern- 
ment of the Southern Confederacy, war needs must take preced- 
ence of all others. In his own words, "Everything gave way, even 
law itself, before the inexorable exigencies of war." We hope that 
in this war, law will not have to give way as it did in the Confederacy. 
What was true then is true now. So to-day we must be prepared, 
if necessary, temporarily to make many sacrifices in order that 
America shall be triumphant and that democracy and Western civili- 
zation shall be preserved. 

Some Auxiliary War Organizations 

The Fuel Administration is a good example of war reorganization 
for the purpose of meeting an extraordinary need. During most of 
19 1 7 more coal was produced and transported to different sections 
than had been mined in any previous year. Yet, so great were 
the extraordinary needs for coal on railroads and in manufacturing 
plants that there was a decided shortage even before the very severe 
cold spell of last winter. The Fuel Administration, created in August, 
1917, with Dr. Harry A. Garfield as Fuel Administrator, fixes prices 
everywhere in the United States. It tries to keep up fuel supplies 
where most needed. It has also arbitrarily insisted that plants 
shall be shut down on "fuelless days" in order that coal may be 
secured for Atlantic steamships and by householders who otherwise 
would suffer from the intense cold. It has done a valuable work in 
conserving our shipping of gasoline, oil, and coal. 

Early in the war nearly seven hundred railways voluntarily 
united and allowed a Railroad^ s War Board of experienced railway 
officials to coordinate all of the lines, to work out better plans for 
carrying passengers or handling freight, and to direct the general 
work of all lines. In December, 191 7, however, freight conges- 



84 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

tion became so serious that the national government took over all 
interstate railways. Mr. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury, was 
made Director of the Transportation Service. He is assisted in each 
of the great areas of the country by an experienced and successful 
railway manager who actually directs railway affairs in his district. 
A large number of duplicating trains have been discontinued, and 
a great many economies have been introduced. Any one who has 
traveled in recent months realizes how necessary that was because 
of the immense amount of traffic required in carrying troops and 
war materials. In June the government took over the telegraph 
and larger telephone lines also. The railway situation illustrates 
the war problem and need better than anything else, with the 
possible exception of the food and coal problems, because it was 
necessary arbitrarily to commandeer the railroads; and the rail- 
way management, since it has been brought under national control, 
has placed governmental and war needs ahead of ordinary business 
requirements. For example, the Fuel Administration stopped, for 
a period of several days, the carrying of anything except coal or 
foodstuffs over any railroads of the northeastern part of the country. 
This was due in part to the shortage of coal in eastern cities during 
the longest cold snap in years ; but it was due also to the need of 
furnishing coal to vessels bound for Europe and of preventing ex- 
porters from cluttering docks with goods which could not possibly 
be sent at that time. 

Some of us do not think of The Red Cross as a branch of the 
government ; yet it is, and it is the only organization of its kind, that 
is, an organization caring for the health, welfare, and morale of the 
troops, which is actually and directly connected with our govern- 
ment in its war work. The officers of the Red Cross, however, are 
not in a strict sense governmental officials, as they are paid out of 
Red Cross funds, and every cent of the Red Cross money is raised 
by private contributions.^ The honorary head of the American 
Red Cross is President Wilson, and its membership at the beginning 

1 A special fund of more than $100,000,000 was raised in a few days 
last summer. Another campaign for a similar amount was held in June, 
191 8. This fall seven different organizations will hold a concerted 
drive for a still larger sum. The boys and girls can help. Try com- 
petition between the different classes. 



WAR REORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT 85 

of 19 1 8 was more than five millions. Its affairs are directed by a 
War Council with headquarters at Washington. At present hun- 
dreds of thousands of workers are giving part or all of their time 
without pay to this service, in their own communities or in Wash- 
ington or at the front. The Red Cross is made up of chapters located 
in more than twenty-five hundred cities of the country. Each local 
chapter decides what work it will do in its own community. Some 
specialize on the making of hospital bandages ; others devote par- 
ticular attention to knitting sweaters ; still others give attention 
to securing materials of a hundred different kinds to be prepared 
for use at the front. All keep the general organization supplied as 
rapidly as new goods or materials can be provided. In the different 
localities there are many other voluntary war organizations, such 
as the Navy League and a number of others which are working with 
and through the Red Cross. In the grammar schools and in most 
high schools earnest boy or girl workers are enrolled in the Junior 
Red Cross. There are scores of ways in which the students can 
help : by knitting, if wool is obtainable, by remaking garments, 
by gathering newspapers, rubber, bottles, and other articles, by 
helping in local Red Cross work certain hours a week, and by con- 
tributing nickels and dimes earned by working at odd times. 

The work of the Red Cross in Europe is of great proportions and of 
inestimable value. Refreshment rooms and houses or shops are 
maintained at given places. There are several Red Cross hospitals 
owned and managed entirely by this organization. More than 
two-thirds of the six thousand hospitals in France are receiving 
bandages and other supplies, even some drugs, from this efficient 
organization. The care of the civilian population in desolated 
districts is frequently handled by the Red Cross, to the exclusion 
of all other agencies. The Red Cross sends out, twice a month, 
three ten-pound packages of concentrated foods to every American 
prisoner in a German camp. Because Germany has very little food 
and because the prisoners in camps get less than their share, these 
fortnightly supplies have frequently saved prisoners, especially 
those who are sick or wounded, from starvation and death. 

The limits of this volume prevent our considering the hardly 
less valuable work of the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., the K. C, 



86 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

the A. L. A., the Salvation Army, and other organizations whose 
activities must be left for later discussion. 

The Shipping Problem 

Some years ago Secretary McAdoo and President Wilson sug- 
gested that the United States should have a merchant fleet of its 
own. Congress did not approve. The problem of an American 
merchant marine has been a serious one in this country ever since 
the middle of the nineteenth century. At that time we had the 
second largest merchant marine in the world, one slightly smaller 
than that of Great Britain. About the time of the Civil War, 
the change from wood to steel construction for ships, the inter- 
ference with American commerce by Confederate privateers, and 
the aid given by the national government to industry and to some 
extent agriculture, tended to discotirage the building of American 
merchant vessels. During the later years of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, and the early years of the twentieth, less than one-tenth of 
our foreign commerce was carried in American bottoms. For the 
transportation of most of the rest we depended upon the British 
merchant fleet. Even the serious troubles which we had over 
neutral trade and the submarine campaigns of Germany since 
19 1 5 did not arouse the American people to the need of building 
an infinitely larger number of ships, until more than two years 
after the Great War broke out. 

In 1 9 16 the national government created an Emergency Fleet 
Corporation, a governmental organization which made contracts 
with shipbuilders for the construction of a merchant marine to be 
controlled by the national government. Encouragement was given 
to construct shipyards, and to speed up the building of vessels. 
We found, however, that a new industry of this type could not be 
created overnight. In spite of the most strenuous effort since 
this campaign started, the United States constructed to January i , 
191 8, ships of less than two million tons burden. At first special 
attention was given to the making of wooden ships, but in recent 
months more stress has been placed upon the making of steel vessels. 
Since we did not have the shipyards, but did have unusually fine 
steel manufacturing plants, we have specialized on "fabricated'* 



WAR REORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT 87 

steel ships. The steel plates are prepared in the steel plants, and 
are sent to the seaboard shipyards, where the ships are put together. 
Last spring the first concrete ship was launched from a shipyard on 
the Pacific Coast. If successful, and the experience of the French 
would indicate that they are, concrete vessels will help greatly to 
solve the danger arising from a shortage of merchant vessels. 

There are numerous problems which interfere with the construction 
of a sufficient ship tonnage. Among these are the lack of labor 
supply. For example, plates of which ships are made must be 
riveted together, and there are not enough expert riveters. Another 
difficulty is the lack of shipbuilding facilities. A third is the desire 
to make extraordinary profits. A fourth arises out of labor disputes. 
Wonderful progress is being made, but it is doubtful whether much 
more than three million net tons ^ of shipping will be constructed 
during the calendar year 19 18. However, in the single month of 
July, 19 1 8, from our American shipyards were launched vessels of 
more than five hundred thousand tons burden — a tonnage twice 
as great as that destroyed that month by submarines and by mines, 
and by other war dangers. Still another problem is caused by the 
extraordinary delay in shipping materials from America to Europe. 
Although there is not as much foreign commerce for the whole 
world as there was before the Great War, nevertheless, a great 
many more tons of goods are being shipped from American ports, 
and are being shipped into French and British ports, than ever 
before in history. In consequence, there has been great congestion 
on the docks, and at times ships have been delayed in getting coal 
and other needed commodities before sailing. In France we have 
been creating new ports to accommodate vessels carrying troops or 
war materials, and we have been building new railroads to carry our 
men and supplies to the front. 

These are a few of our new war organizations, interests, activities, 
and problems ; they are typical of many others. We should learn 

^ In estimating ship tonnage we must distinguish between net ton- 
nage and gross tonnage. There is a marked difference between the 
figures of the two. A vessel of 10,000 burden (net) will probably be 
registered as more than 15,000 tons, gross. Germany expresses losses 
by submarine in gross tonnage. The rest of the world usually speaks 
of tonnage as net. 



^S THE WAR AND AMERICA 

what we can about any that may be brought to our attention. 
Can we doubt that we should loyally stand by the President and 
his assistants in the great and difficult work they are doing ? 

REFERENCES 
Council of National Defense 

World's Work, 33 (1917), 629-636; 34 (1917), 473-475- 

Clarkson, T., Council of National Defense, in Scribner's, 62 (1917), 

182-191. 
Tarbell, I. M., in Harper's, 135 (1917), 841-847. 
Council of National Defense Report. 

Red Cross 

National Geographic Magazine, 31 (19 17), 423-431. 
Scheitlin, M. G., in Review of Reviews, 56 (1917), 616-620. 
Survey, 38 (1917), 94, 162; 39 (1917), 181-185, 217-226. 
Smith, G., in World's Work, 35 (1918), 281-296. 

Shipping 

Smith, J. R., in Review of Reviews, 56 (1917), 393-396. 

Hungerford, E., in Everybody's, 37 (1917), 1 14-125. 

Williams, D., in Illustrated World, 28 (1917), 400-402. 

Hard, W., in The New Repjiblic, 12 (1917), 319-321 ; 13 (1917), 

10-13, 39-41- 
Marvin, W. S., in Review of Reviews, 56 (1917), 63-72. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Give some idea of the work done before the war broke out in 
placing the American government on a quasi- war basis. What is 
the Council of National Defense ? What has it accomplished ? ¥/hat 
is the War Industries Board? Explain the organization and work of 
the United States Employment Service. 

2. Who is head of the Fuel Administration? What is the work of 
the Fuel Administration ? Why has it been necessary to save coal ? to 
reduce consumption of gasoline? What is the general nature of the 
work of the State Councils of Defense ? Name the chairman and one 
other member of our State Council of Defense. Give the names of at 
least three committees of our State Council. Explain in some detail 
at least two things of value which the State Council has accomplished. 

3. (Try to picture to yourself the situation in Washington in the 



WAR REORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT 89 

spring of 191 7, with old bureaus and organizations which had had 
little but routine work for years.) Name several problems due to the 
marvelous expansion of organization and duties of different boards, 
bureaus, or departments. 

4. Name at least a half dozen prominent business men who have 
accepted government positions in charge of war activities. To what 
extent has the government attempted to solve the problem of "co- 
ordination, concentration, and unification"? What power does the 
Overman act confer upon the President? Has our government at 
Washington been able yet to create as efficient a business organization 
as the British Government has done ? 

5. Why did the government take over the railroads and the tele- 
graph and telephone lines ? Have you any idea how much of the rail- 
ways' business at present is given to transporting troops, or supplies 
for troops? Is there any reason why the government should not 
take over other necessary industries beside those dealing with trans- 
portation and communication ? 

6. What is the Red Cross? How is it organized? What do the 
local chapters try to do ? Explain what work our local chapters have 
done since the outbreak of war. Is there a branch of the Red Cross, 
or a Junior Red Cross organization, in this school ? What was accom- 
plished by the students during the school year 19 17-18? What has 
been accomplished or is being planned this year ? Give some idea of 
the work done by the Red Cross in Europe. 

7. Explain these names and tell what war work is performed by 
each organization : Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., K. C, and A. L. A. What 
sums of money are being raised this fall or winter by these organiza- 
tions? Wliat is being done in connection with Belgian Relief work? 
French Relief work? 

8. What kind of an ocean-going merchant marine did we have at 
the beginning of the war ? To what extent did we have shipbuilding 
yards in 191 6? Where are some of the largest shipbuilding plants 
at the present time? To what extent have we specialized on wooden 
ships, on regularly constructed steel ships, on fabricated steel ships, 
and on concrete ships ? Why has there been such a demand for riveters ? 

9. Compare the tonnage of vessels constructed in a single month 
now with our total tonnage before the Great War broke out. Why 
has the submarine issue ceased to be of great importance? How do 
we manage to convoy our troops to France with practically no loss? 
Explain how the lack of ships has created a food problem and special 
difficulties in caring for our troops in Europe. 



10. REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL WORK 

The General Problem 

The schools in war time are not the same as schools in time 
of peace. In general, their object is the same, but nevertheless 
there are problems, differences of outlook, and new needs which 
call for considerable reorganization. Schools must he prepared to 
do the work which they attempted before the war broke out even better 
than it has been done in the past. Possibly some may undertake a 
niunber of new tasks, such as giving new short courses in agriculture, 
or domestic science, or history, or mathematics, or science, as a special 
preparation for those students who cannot afford to specialize in 
those subjects. To meet other and more general war needs the 
school must, in addition, give instruction on still other topics, for 
example, these "War Citizenship Lessons" which we are now 
studying. 

It is necessary for us to keep before us constantly the importance 
of school work in the present crisis. We must not imagine that 
because there is a war the school fills a less vitpl place than it did 
■two years ago. Quite the opposite is the case. No farmer is 
-more foolish than the one who grinds his seed corn ; but a demo- 
cratic NATION that neglects its schools, especially in war time, is 
guilty of criminal folly even more disastrous. 

War is one of the most strenuous of all businesses. There is 
keener competition between leaders and soldiers on the opposing 
sides than can be found in any ordinary business or profession. 
One reason for this is that mistakes in war are exceedingly costly 
to life and limb, and he who blunders usually forfeits his own life 
or the lives of others. We need well-trained men as gunners, as 
engineers, and as leaders in this titanic contest with Germany, 
and it is the general training even more than the specific prepara- 
tion which counts in making them capable. Moreover, the success 

go 



REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL WORK 91 

of armies at the front depends more on proper supplies and support 
from home than on any conditions at the front. Marshal Joffre 
and other great leaders believe that the war is being won by the 
many behind the firing line (possibly far away) rather than by the 
few in the trenches. But the many will win because of training 
and because of efficient service. Our boys and the allied troops 
in France will not fail us ; we must not fail them. We must know 
what they need, then we must do those things. Greater knowledge 
and higher efficiency are essentials for us as well as for them. They 
can get theirs in training camps, in service, and in actual combat ; 
we must get ours in school and in our everyday tasks. We must 
not have low standards of excellence. Just as the science of war- 
fare is improved constantly, we must keep improving our studies 
and methods. A famous aviator, for two years a prisoner of the 
Germans, declared that he must learn the art of aviation all over 
it has changed so much. We must not expect our schools to stand 
still, and we must not be laggards in the race. 

After the war there will probably be competition among the 
nations, and within our own country, which will be sharper than 
any we have known in past years. In other words, not only will 
industries and activities connected with the war be speeded up, 
but a higher standard of efficiency will be demanded from workers 
in every field of endeavor. The boy or the girl who slights his 
high school education, or neglects it by dropping out, will find that 
he is Hkely to be left behind in the race. If he neglects this greatest 
of all opportunities because of some attractive opening outside of 
school, he may find that he has given up much for little. We all 
know that if a boy leaves school at fifteen, he will not be able, 
other things being equal, to do as advanced work as he might have 
done, or to occupy the positions of responsibility which he might 
have filled, if he had continued in high school and college until 
he was twenty-two. We know further that in general the man of 
forty will not only have earned more if he continues his education, 
than he would if he had left school prematurely, but that he is 
probably earning several times as much yearly as he could have 
earned with an incomplete education. We must not look at this 
subject chiefly from the money point of view, however, for the 



92 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

purpose of education in America is not primarily to increase the 
amount of our wealth, nor to make educated people capable of 
earning large salaries. Its object is first the self-preservation of 
a self-governing nation, secondly, social development of the entire 
people, and thirdly, self-education and improvement for the in- 
dividual. 

General Preparation 

The student is not always allowed to decide just what work he 
will take; he is frequently forced by the arbitrary arrangement 
of courses or by his own lack of preparation to select a group of 
subjects which is not of the highest value to him personally. He 
must not imagine that he should be entitled to pick and choose 
among all the subjects offered in the high school in order to com- 
plete a course which will enable him to graduate. To be well 
trained or educated he should have groups of subjects which go 
together, general courses which give continued instruction or 
DEVELOPMENT work along certain educational lines for which he is 
fitted. In other words, to be of real value a high school course 
must he more or less unified, and this unity must be secured in most 
cases by three or four years of some one subject, and by two or 
more years of at least one subject closely related to the first. By 
getting from five to eight units which are closely related, and worth 
while educationally and to him personally, he has laid a foundation 
upon which he can build later, whether he goes to college or not. 
Since this is the foundation of his whole life, he must see that the 
subjects are valuable in themselves, and indirectly if not directly 
related to the life work which he expects to undertake. The term 
indirectly is used advisedly, because in high school far better prepa- 
ration can often be secured from subjects which are general and 
disciplinary rather than from those which seem more practical, 
because after all it is a general foundation which we are laying. It 
is therefore necessary that the student should not give all of his 
time in high school to subjects which are very much alike. It is 
essential that a balance should he maintained between the major 
subject and closely related subjects, on the one hand, and those 
subjects which are of secondary importance in the making of his 



REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL WORK 93 

life foundation, but are of real value because they are of personal 
interest or because they tend to give training of an exactly opposite 
character from that furnished by the major work. The purpose 
of high school is not to turn out specialists either in theory or in 
practical work. The high school should, however, give a real 
education, if necessary complete in itself, because it has employed 
a building-up process which begins in the Freshman year and con- 
tinues successively and progressively in the higher classes. 

Among the new special war courses which it may be possible for 
schools to offer, if students find them of sufficient interest or value, 
are short courses on the more necessary war mathematics. Such a 
course could not be given to immature students, but would neces- 
sarily be left to the senior or junior year of high school. Whether 
or not it would call for a new or different type of textbook depends 
partly upon the need of a single textbook for such a course, and 
partly upon the teacher and classes in any school. New shop 
courses will undoubtedly be' developed to meet new needs. These 
will give necessary foundation work and practical application of 
those principles; but they will probably limit themselves rather 
to the development of the work of specific occupations. In ,short, 
they will of necessity be chiefly of the craft type, that is, the kind of 
course in which a trade school specializes. Some of our better 
equipped technical high schools and colleges are already giving 
courses which will train boys and young men for the more difficult 
work in shipbuilding. Other courses could undoubtedly be made 
helpful, if they prepared for other branches of ship construction, 
munition manufacture, or the making of motors, or gave training 
to workers for other war industries. 

Short courses in agriculture have already been proposed and are 
being worked out in very many high schools. In addition, it is 
probable that our agricultural departments will be able to give 
shorter and more practical but highly helpful general courses. 
Domestic art courses for girls may be able to eliminate much of the 
routine, and, from the war point of view, unnecessarily detailed 
work, and concentrate on cooking, on food values, on the utiliza- 
tion of dress goods materials, or on other subjects brought into 
prominence by the war. In history and in science something 



94 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

similar may be attempted. A short helpful half-year course in 
modern European history from the war viewpoint is desirable for 
those who have had no European history whatever. Such a course 
would of necessity stress only those events, movements, and changed 
conditions which are closely connected with Europe to-day or with 
the Great War and its progress. A new and more practical short 
course in civics, to be given not at the end of a high school student's 
career but near the beginning may be worked out in the near 
future. More valuable, and if necessary, reorganized courses in 
physics and chemistry should attract more students than in the 
past. Until 19 14 Germany's attention to science gave her fac- 
tories and her armies certain advantages over those of nations that 
neglected scientific education. 

No school can make all of these changes. Most schools will 
wish to make very few of them. The most necessary reorganization 
will he impossible if the students drop out or fail to understand what 
preparation is best for life as well as for war needs. Let us remember 
that at least two of the greatest leaders of the war owe their leader- 
ship primarily to their education. Wilson, the clear-visioned 
statesman, and Foch, master strategist, are superior to their as- 
sociates chiefly through their better grasp of their problems and 
their clearer comprehension of wise solutions. 

; REFERENCES 

Becht, J. G., in National Education Association Report (1916)., 
935-940. 

Dunn, Social Studies in Secondary Education, U. S. Bureau of Edu- 
cation (1916), Bulletin No. 28. 

Marvin, C. H., in School and Society, 5 (19 17), 696-701. 

Elementary School Journal, i^j (1917), 397-431, 485-520, 550-575, 
627-649. 

Young, J. R., in Educational Review, 53 (1917), 122-136. 

National Education Association, The Reorganization of Secondary 
Education, United States Bureau of Education (1913), Bulletin 
No. 41. 

Dean, The Schools in War Time and After. 






REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL WORK 95 

QUESTIONS 

1. If the war has speeded up most industries and has made us elimi- 
nate non-essentials, should it not temporarily affect our school courses ? 
If there is dead wood in our courses, would it not affect them perma- 
nently ? 

2. If it is important to educate and train an American nation, would 
not the schools have a very important work in that great task ? Would 
not most of the work be done through the students who are now in 
school? What has the government done to help high school and col- 
lege students to remain in school ? Does it attempt to prepare college 
students for officers? If so, how? What is the S. A. T. C. ? Give 
some idea of the value of education from the purely military point 
of view. What does that seem to prove regarding the value of edu- 
cation from other points of view ? 

3. To what extent is the leadership of President Wilson and Marshal 
Foch due to their education, that is, to their understanding and grasp 
of the general and political problem in the one case, or of the military 
problem in the other ? Name some other leaders of the war whose 
education has been the chief essential in their success. 

4. From the financial point of view, why is it wise to be near the 
top among the skilled, trained workers and leaders, rather than farther 
down among the more unskilled, among whom competition is great ? 

5. In selecting a high school course, why is it necessary that a stu- 
dent should select a first-class general course? Is such a general 
course possible without a major subject about which the course is built 
and one or two minor subjects closely related to the main subject? 
Is it not wise therefore to make careful selection of the main course 
in which the student specializes? In the making of electives, what 
should be kept particularly in mind ? 

6. Name some old courses which are particularly valuable because 
of present war conditions. Can you give a suggestion of ways in which 
those courses can be made more helpful to students ? Can you name 
one new course for which there is likely to be demand ? What par- 
ticular present need would it meet ? What would be its general educa- 
tional value, and its special value in connection with the present crisis ? 

7. Why is a student helping to win the war when he studies hard?' 
In spite of the great value of war work done by students, why are regu- 
lar school duties even more important ? As a student in this high school, 
what are you doing as a patriotic duty ? What should you do more 
than you are doing, in order to prove your patriotism ? 



CONCLUSION 

More than a year has passed since the United States became 
engaged in war with Germany. It has been a period of changes, 
of new conditions, and of trying problems. Brought face to face 
with this conflict, we have been forced, first of all, to learn why it 
occurred and what it was all about. This has been a task for 
which the school is especially fitted, because our schools are pre- 
eminently that part of our great civic organization which devotes 
particular attention to a comprehension of important subjects and 
preparation for important duties. To the other subjects and 
courses offered in the school, it has therefore been desirable that 
there should be added a study of the recent past, to determine 
what are the real causes of the war, of the present, to learn what 
war conditions exist and what are the most pressing needs to-day, 
and of the future, to discover what problems must be considered 
and if possible solved. 

The work of the school deals not only with comprehension of 
school subjects, and of public or individual needs, but also with 
preparation of the student for his work in life. Its work is in- 
complete unless the student realizes the general nature of citizen- 
ship, and of the rights and duties of citizens. He must appreciate 
also the fact that there is a school citizenship, which to him as a 
student is a very important part of general public citizenship, and 
he must realize that war conditions create also new relations, and 
rights, and obligations which make it possible to speak of war citizen- 
ship. These lessons have suggested some changes which are 
creating a new war citizenship and are calling for new and higher 
standards in school citizenship. The war illustrates, as do very 
few events in time of peace, the fact that the better citizens we are, 
the more we are expected to live up to our opportunities and to 
fulfill our obligations. In time of peace, the way that society is 
organized makes it possible for people to earn a living, to acquire 

96 



CONCLUSION 97 

wealth, and enjoy life without apparently being called upon to 
give back as much as they get ; but, when war comes, the fact is em- 
phasized at once that our country demands services and sacrifices 
which it is our civic duty to perform. A study of war citizenship 
therefore brings out more clearly than can a study of civics in time 
of peace the distinction between a good citizen who sees his duty 
and does it, and the indifferent citizen, who because he does not 
know, or because he is not willing, fails to do what his country 
needs. The war period brings incessant and radical changes ; and 
it gives opportunity for men, women, and children to develop a true 
'* war conscience " and to see that the right changes are made. Only 
well-informed citizens are able to create the kind of public senti- 
ment that we need; only intelligent citizens can make the best 
reorganization of schools and business to help win a war. This 
intelligent citizenship can be acquired far more easily in the schools 
than outside ; for it must be based upon knowledge, and must in- 
clude a real understanding of why and how we must obey those in 
authority, and develop a willing cooperation with one another. 

The purpose of school work, however, and particularly of war 
citizenship lessons is not to enable us to know, but to help us to 
do. We must learn what we can do, and be prepared to do it, 
but we should also understand what we cannot do, and be willing 
to refrain from doing it. There is great need that we should stand 
back of the President, should support the government in spirit as 
well as in letter, and should cooperate constantly with those about 
us. In President Wilson's proclamation announcing the enactment 
of a selective service law, he used these words, "The men who re- 
main to till the soil and man the factories are no less a part of the 
army than the men beneath the battle flags. It is not an army 
that we must shape and train for war; it is a nation. To this end 
our people must draw close into one compact front against a com- 
mon foe. But this cannot be if each man pursues a private pur- 
pose. All must pursue one purpose. The nation needs all men; 
but it needs each man, not in 1he field that will pleasure him most, 
but in the endeavor that will best serve the common good . . . the 
whole nation must be a team in which each man shall play the 
part for which he is best fitted . . , it is a new manner of accept- 

H 



98 THE WAR AND AMERICA 

ing and vitalizing our duty to give ourselves with thought for 
devotion to the common purpose of us all." 

Five millions of our men have been enrolled in service, and are 
fairly well prepared to take active share in the great conflict, 
modern crusaders against a twentieth century menace to Chris- 
tianity and civilization. But the war is not to be won solely by 
the troops at the front, because it is not chiefly a struggle between 
the armies of Germany and the armies of the Allies. It is in a true 
sense a contest between the German nation and kultur, trying to 
dominate the world, and the other peoples, seeking to preserve the 
best of western civilization as we knew it before the war, and aim- 
ing not only to make the world safe for democracy, but to develop 
and perfect that civilization and that democracy far more than in 
the past. 

In these lessons nothing has been said concerning conditions on 
which peace shall be made. It has been necessary for President 
Wilson to state fully terms of peace in order to make clear the 
position in which America stands and the principles which we repre- 
sent; but it is unnecessary at this time that the schools should 
discuss that subject. Not peace hut war is still our problem. 
It is a war greater than any other in history, and a war which must 
he WON, hecause a conflict which ends in compromise will he time 
and effort wasted. Never again will the great Powers of the western 
world be more closely united against an overpowering danger. If 
we fail to destroy the menace now, it will grow and it will do more 
than grow; it will destroy the possibility of future unity among 
its present enemies. In the course of this war America and the 
Allies must, of course, become even more closely united than they 
are at present, and the unity must lead to persistent and deter- 
mined effort which must end in the complete and overwhelming 
defeat of Germany. The world must not be asked to go through 
another struggle like that of the present. The American people 
must see that such a struggle is not allowed to recur. After this 
war Germany must not be able to create again such a situation 
as has existed in recent years. It is a case of NOW OR NEVER. 
This struggle may be long and bitter, or the ''grand smash" may 
come soon, but it must be thorough. The war will not be over as 



CONCLUSION . 99 

soon as the fighting ceases, nor will most problems be settled when 
peace has been concluded. 

The weight of the war burden falls more heavily upon our young 
men who have gone willingly to the front, but it is our responsibility 
as well as our opportunity. Not all of them have been appointed 
officers, nor are many of them permitted to serve in the front 
trenches, but we know that all are ready and willing to do the 
least as well as the greatest task which may be set for them. For 
those of us who remain at home, a new organization is necessary 
and we should be ready to take the place that shall be assigned to 
us. This may be directed by those in authority at Washington. 
It is not their desire to force upon us orders to do work that is 
unpleasant, nor do they wish to control the private lives of our 
people ; but they are compelled to take some measures to gain our 
help in the conservation of fuel, in the saving of food, and in the 
prevention of waste. Let us do our part, not because we are 
afraid our failure will in the future bring a scarcity of supplies, 
and that scarcity will lead to suffering, but because we are anxious 
to obey and cooperate gladly, as the first duties of a good citizen. 

Can we not as individuals be truly soldiers of our country volun- 
tarily by practicing conservation, by producing necessities, and 
helping the Red. Cross or other auxiliaries of the war? Can we 
not do our bit by comforting friends and relatives at home or by 
letters and remembrances sent to our boys at the front ? 

To us are denied many opportunities which adults might have 
to share in the organization of armies or in the carrying out of war 
policies, but in our homes, in the school, and in the voluntary war 
organizations with which we are associated we can find ways con- 
stantly to help Uncle Sam. In the fact that these are every-day 
affairs, unheroic and inconspicuous, lies the importance of the 
work which every one of us can do and is doing. Even if we do 
not understand fully the reason for saving this food rather than 
that, or of making sacrifices, or of obeying in spirit the suggestions 
of our President and others in authority ; at least let us feel that 
we shall not spend our time objecting or complaining, but that we 
shall help, without criticism, in the spirit of a cheerful giver, know- 
ing that what we have done is our best and that our best is worthy 
of a true patriot. 



APPENDIX I 
USING WORN MATERIALS 

1 . Examine garments carefully and note how best they can be utilized 

and whether they are worth remaking. 
Remember that remaking involves often more work than the 

making of new garments. 
One or more of the following processes is often needed : 

Cleaning : a, washing ; b, removal of stains ; c, sponging, press- 
ing, etc. 

Redyeing. 

Ripping. 

Very careful planning in cutting. 

Combining of materials, if not enough of one, etc. 

2 . In remaking remember there is a saving of the price of material ; 

a conserving of material which otherwise would be wasted. 

3. Do not put unnecessary labor on remaking. 

For example, if pieces of old garments are large enough for recut- 
ting, do not take time to rip seams ; cut them off, 

4. Have pieces clean and well pressed before beginning to cut. Cut 

garment apart previous to sponging, washing, removing spots, 
pressing, etc. It is much easier to work with smaller, flat pieces. 

5. If remodeling is to be worth while, the finished garments must — 

1. Be attractive. 

2. Have wearing quality. Consider this before beginning. 

6. Choose patterns very carefully. Note the size and shape of pieces 

with which you have to work and choose a pattern the design of 
which gives pieces which will cut from material you have with- 
out conspicuous piecing. For example, if pieces are not long 
enough for skirt length, choose skirt with yoke, tunic skirt, or 
two-tier skirt, any of which require shorter lengths. 

7. In remaking, piecing may often be successfully hidden under decora- 

tion, if carefully planned. 
Plan to piece under tucks, pleats, folds, where braid is put on, in- 
sertion is set in, etc. 

8. Place whole pattern on and know just how you are going to get whole 

garment from pieces before cutting any one piece. 

9. In combining materials consider carefully color and texture of 

materials for attractive and harmonious results. 

lOI 



APPENDIX II 
DRAFT CLASSES AND ORDER IN WHICH SELECTIVES GO 

The Provost Marshal General has authorized the following classi- 
fication of selectives into five groups, indicating the order in which 
they will be called to service : 

Class I 

1. Single men without dependent relatives. 

2. Married man (or widower) with children, who habitually fails to 

support his family. 

3. Married man dependent on wife for support. 

4. Married man (or widower) with children, not usefully engaged ; 

family supported by income. 

5. Men not included in any other description in this or other classes. 

6. Unskilled laborer. 

Class II 

1. Married man or father of motherless children, usefully engaged, 

but family has sufficient income to afford support during absence. 

2. Married man, no children; wife can support herself decently 

and without hardship. 

3. Skilled farm laborer engaged in necessary agricultural enterprise. 

4. Skilled industrial laborer engaged in necessary industrial enter- 

prise. 

Class III 

1. Man with foster children dependent on daily labor for support. 

2. Man with aged, infirm, or invalid parents or grandparents depend- 

ent on daily labor for support. 

3. Man with brothers or sisters incompetent to support themselves 

dependent on daily labor. 

4. County or municipal officer. 

5. Firemen or policemen. 

102 



APPENDIX 11 103 

6. Necessary artificers or workmen in arsenals, armories, and navy 

yards. 

7. Necessary custom house clerk. 

8. Persons necessary in transmission of mails, 

9. Necessary employees in service of United States. 

10. Highly specialized administrative experts. 

11. Technical or mechanical experts in industrial enterprise. 

12. Highly specialized agricultural expert in agricultural bureau of 

state or nation. 

13. Assistant or associate manager of necessary industrial enterprise. 

14. Assistant or associate manager of necessary agricultural enterprise. 

Class IV 

1. Married man with wife (and) or children (or widower with children) 

dependent on daily labor. 

2. Mariners in sea service of merchants or citizens in United States. 

3. Heads of necessary industrial enterprises. 

4. Heads of necessary agricultural enterprises. 

Class V 

1. Officers of states or the United States. 

2. Regularly or duly ordained ministers. 

3. Students of divinity, or who were such on May 18, 19 17. 

4. Persons in military or naval service. 

5. Aliens. 

6. Alien enemies. 

7. Persons morally unfit. 

8. Persons physically, permanently, or mentally unfit. 

9. Licensed pilots. 

[ o. Members of a well-recognized religious organization on May 18,1917, 
whose creed forbids its members to participate in war, and whose 
convictions are against war. 



Printed in the United States of America. 




Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proc 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: M/^Y 2001 

PreservationTechnologi 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVA 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 

r.ranh>onv Tnwnshto. PA 16068 



